Ashleigh Brilliant was born in London, England in 1933 of Jewish ancestry.  A self-described shy, lonely and introverted child he moved with his family from London to Toronto, Canada and later to Washington D.C where his father had a British government position during World War II.

Ashleigh attended five different colleges and completed various degrees including a UC Berkeley, PhD before becoming a college history professor, sailing twice around the world on board Chapman University’s “floating campus.” Subsequently, he found himself caught up in in the Haight-Ashbury hippie movement in San Francisco with a following as a revered mock-guru with regular singing performances in Golden Gate Park.

Ashleigh created Pot-Shots in 1967 with a self-imposed code for his epigrams (defined by Webster’s as a concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with a single thought or event and often ending with an ingenious or witty turn of thought).  According to this code, his writings could not: reference fads or fashion, be puns, use rhyme or rhythm, be difficult to translate or be more than 17 words.   In this 40 year span of time, Mr. Brilliant has proven worthy of his name by completing, with copyright protection,10,000 works!  He has averaged over this time period one new brilliant-thought every 48 hours, most of which have come to him during the course of his daily two hours of walking.

Dr. Brilliant’s fame is noted worldwide.  His Pot-Shots have been published in newspapers and books all over the world.  His words can also be found in obscure corners of the earth on tombstones, hotel ceilings, religious bulletin boards, classroom walls, corporate products and office doors.  Dr. Brilliant is also one of the world's most quoted people - during one 18 month period in Reader’ Digest’s “Quotable Quotes,” he appeared more frequently than anyone but Mark Twain.  His works are acknowledged and admired by many famous people including John Lennon, Charles Schulz, Donald Trump, Lee Majors, Isaac Asimov and The Duke of Edinburgh.  His fame grew in 1992 when the Wall Street Journal featured him in a front page article.  He has become known for winning copyright infringement cases against various corporations and individuals who used his works without his permission.  Ashleigh’s wordsmith abilities have enabled him to win many contests including the naming of a semi-pro basketball team and writing new lyrics for the Chiquita banana song.  His claim of being the world’s only full-time professional epigrammatist remains unchallenged to this day!

Ashleigh resides in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife of 40 years, Dorothy, and their Brilliant cat of 12 years, Chummy.