Jerome K. Jerome had four ambitions in life: to edit a successful journal, write a successful play, write a successful book, and become a member of Parliament. He accomplished three of these, editing two successful journals, writing a successful play called "The Passing of the Third Floor Back", and his most famous work, the novel "Three Men and a Boat", but he did not achieve his ambition of entering Parliament. Jerome had a varied career across theatre, writing, and journalism before finding literary success late in his career.