Philippa Gregory – English novelist, broadcaster and newspaper reviewer, was born 9th January 1954 in Kenya (a bit far from the UK we know!) Her family moved to England when she was two years old. As a young adult, Philippa attended the University of Sussex, and afterwards worked with BBC radio for two years, until going on to study for her doctorate in 17th-century literature at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Christian Jessen is the presenter of ‘Embarrassing Illnesses’, ‘Supersize Vs Superskinny’ (check out the book of this published 2008), ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ and ‘The Ugly Face of Beauty’. He graduated in 2000 from University College London, having trained in general medicine, infectious disease, travel medicine and sexual health/HIV. Throughout his career, Dr Jessen has lived in Kenya and Uganda where he taught in schools and also researched malaria and HIV interactions in children.
The Man Booker Prize
The winner 2011’s Man Booker Prize was announced this week as Julian Barnes for The Sense of an Ending. For all of its controversies (click here to read the article) the Man Booker is still one of the book industry’s most important awards, and just making the long-list can see a book’s sales sky-rocket.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Mark Billingham did not choose just one career path, he’s currently on several! Originally working for some years as an actor, Mark then became known as a TV writer and stand-up comedian in 1987. Since then he has been a guest on over 30 TV and radio shows, and played at every comedy club in the UK, still often performing at the Comedy Store in London.
William Shakespeare
Later this month, German-born film director Ronald Emmerich will release his latest and most controversial offering: Anonymous, a historical drama which brings the authorship of William Shakespeare’s plays into question. There’s plenty of books on the subject too: try Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare by James Shapiro. This is not a new theory, but the movie has once again fuelled the debate as to who wrote the legendary plays.
