Udall, Nicholas (c. 1505–1556)

English dramatist and scholar. Born in Hampshire and educated at Winchester and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was headmaster of Eton College 1534–41 and Westminster School 1554–56. Udall was the author of the earliest known English comedy, Ralph Roister Doister (written around 1540/53, printed 1566–67), which was modelled on the plays of the Roman dramatists Plautus and Terence.