John Orrell was born in Kent, England, in 1934. Orrell received a PHD in English from the University of Toronto, and began teaching at the University of Alberta in 1961. Orrell wrote several books, including The Quest for Shakespeare's Globe (0-521-24751-9), The Theatres of Inigo Jones and John Webb (0-521-5546-5), The Human Stage: English Theatre Design 1567-1640 (0-521-30859-3), and Rebuilding Shakespeare's Globe (0-878-30156-9) with Andrew Gurr. In addition to being a teacher and writer, Orrell worked as the advisor to the architect who reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. After his death in 2003, Orrell was posthumously given the Sam Wanamaker Award, and was named as one of the 100 Edmontonians of the century.