Prose is the most typical form of language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). While there are critical debates on the construction of prose, its simplicity and loosely defined structure has led to its adoption for the majority of spoken dialogue, factual discourse as well as topical and fictional writing. It is commonly used, for example, in literature, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcasting, film, history, philosophy, law and many other forms of communication.

Structure[link]

Novels, essays, short stories, and works of criticism are examples of prose. Other examples include: comedy, drama, fable, fiction, folk tale, hagiography, legend, literature, myth, narrative, saga, science fiction, story, theme, tragedy.

Prose lacks the more formal metrical structure of verse that is almost always found in traditional poetry. Poems often involve a meter and/or rhyme scheme. Prose, instead, comprises full, grammatical sentences, which then constitute paragraphs and overlook aesthetic appeal. Some works of prose do contain traces of metrical structure or versification and a conscious blend of the two literature formats is known as prose poetry. Similarly, any work of verse with fewer rules and restrictions is known as free verse. Verse is considered to be more systematic or formulaic, whereas prose is the most reflective of ordinary (often conversational) speech. On this point Samuel Taylor Coleridge requested, jokingly, that novice poets should know the "definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose,—words in their best order; poetry,—the best words in their best order."^[1] In Molière's play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Monsieur Jourdain asked for something to be written in neither verse nor prose. A philosophy master replied that "there is no other way to express oneself than with prose or verse," for the simple reason being that "everything that is not prose is verse, and everything that is not verse is prose."^[2]

Types[link]

There are many types of prose, including nonfictional prose, heroic prose, prose poem, polyphonic prose, alliterative prose, prose fiction and village prose in Russian literature.^[3] A prose poem is a composition in prose that has some of the qualities of a poem.^[4]

See also[link]

• English literature
• Postmodern literature

References[link]

MC Solaar
MC Solaar
Background information
Birth name	Claude M'Barali
Born	(1969-03-05) March 5, 1969 (age 43)
Origin	France, Chad, Senegal
Genres	French hip hop, jazz-rap, pop-rap
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Phonogram, Elektra

MC Solaar (born Claude M'Barali, March 5, 1969) is a francophone hip hop and rap artist. He is one of the most internationally popular and influential French rappers.^[1][2]

MC Solaar is known for his complex lyrics, which rely on word play, lyricism, and inquiry. In the English-speaking world, Solaar was signed by London acid jazz label Talkin' Loud and recorded with British group Urban Species and the late Guru, member of the acclaimed New York duo Gang Starr. He has since released seven studio records and one live album and currently lives with his wife, French actress Chloé Bensemoun, their son Roman and daughter Bonnie.

Biography[link]

Early life and debut[link]

Claude M'Barali was born in Dakar, Senegal to parents of Chadian origin. When he was six months old his parents emigrated to France where they eventually settled in the Paris suburb of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. At age twelve he went to Egypt for nine months where he discovered the Zulu Nation and became fascinated with the rapping styles of Afrika Bambaataa.^[3] Upon his return he began to focus perhaps more on music but still studied enough to pass the baccalauréat. It has been said that his constant support from his mother was one of the reasons that he was able to pass the baccalauréat and still create music. He coined the stage name MC Solaar in his teens from his graffiti tags "SOAR" and "SOLAAR".^[1]

MC Solaar describes his early influences before a London gig in 2011, to radio producer Pete Shevlin.

He studied languages at the Jussieu university campus and was a post-graduate in philosophy.^[1] He released his first single in 1990. MC Solaar went to Paris in the summer of 1991 with his friend Jimmy Jay in hopes of succeeding in the music industry. Success came quickly when his first single, Bouge de là ("Move Out of My Way"), based on a sample from Cymande's song The Message (1973) became a hit in early 1990s. This song was all about brushing people to the side and not having time for them; this is evident in the lyrics, of which an excerpt follows (translated to English):

Directly I went to Lucy's
Who loves dogs, cats and TV pet's shows
She says 'Do you love beasts, you my super MC'
I said 'Yeah, lov'em, with salt and well cooked'
She said 'Move out my way'. ^[4]

Many rappers who came out of Africa at the time spoke a lot about slavery and other topics in order to bring the history of their people into light.^[5] Nevertheless, the song went platinum in France and ascended to number five on the national charts.

[edit] 1991–1997: Early success and Prose Combat breakthrough

After the success of Bouge de là, Solaar went on to support the famous American rap group De La Soul when they performed at the Olympia in Paris in September 1991. At the close of 1991 Solaar released Qui Sème le Vent Récolte le Tempo which went on to sell over 400,000 copies in France.^[1] With the success of his début album in France, the French rapper embarked upon extensive tours of Poland and Russia. In December 1992 he performed in twelve countries in West Africa, where his French rap style proved extremely popular with African music fans.^[6]

MC Solaar returned to the studio in 1994, recording the album Prose Combat. It sold 100,000 copies in the first week of its release and became a best seller in 20 other countries. He was rewarded for his efforts when in February 1995 he received an award for Best Male Singer of the Year at the 10th edition of the French "Victoires de la Musique" awards. Also in 1994, MC Solaar appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as Album of the Year by Time.

Solaar went back to the studio in 1997 with longtime friend and producer Jimmy Jay to record his third album, Paradisiaque. The album was another success, which led to an extensive European tour starting on January 9 at the Zénith in Paris. His talents led to international interest from places such as Germany in Europe and all the way to Japan and the United States not long after. He was even included as a guest on American rapper Guru's "Jazzmatazz" project and one of his songs was included in the Tommy Boy rap compilation in the States.^[1]

Early on in MC Solaar's career it was important for him to share the struggles and the different hardships for Black people that migrated to France and tried to make a living. Most of his music was dedicated to enlightening the population of a specific deeper message that connected to him in his life. "...he addresses the conditions under which Black people have migrated to and settled in France. In the piece 'Leve-toi et rap,' he describes his Chadian parents' migration from Senegal to a Parisian suburb, the main stages of his teenage years and how he finally came to discover rap."^[5] In an interview MC Solaar described the feeling of making a song and the thought process while just writing any part of lyrics that go into his music. "I write quickly, because of the music, he tells me. It’s much easier if you have the music, the rhythm, but I am fast. First, I have taken in “everything.” Do you never write before the music? Ah. I used to, he admits. But when I met the music, I changed."^[2]

[edit] 1997–2003: Cinquième As and Mach 6

Solaar's career continued to evolve throughout the late nineties and into the new millennium. He released Cinquième As in 2001 to critical acclaim and Mach 6 in 2003. In the album's third track, "Lève-Toi et Rap", Solaar describes his parents' Chadian emigration as well as his own roots growing up in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and Cairo.^[5] Towards the beginning of the song he says: Puis trip en Egypte, Ecole Française du Caire/ Pour parfaire mon flow et mon vocabulaire/ Là j'ai appris l'humilité, la peur des cartouches/ Pur style de sniper camouflage paw-mouche, which, translated, roughly means he spent time at a French school in Cairo, perfecting his rapping style and learning how to survive a dangerous lifestyle. Critic Dan Gennoe attests to Solaar's "flow et vocabulaire" by noting "the flow of his words is staggering, as are the low-slung grooves that they roll to; deftly vaulting all language barriers." ^[7]

The cover of Cinquieme As depicts Solaar topless, and draws comparisons to captives about to be taken onto a slave ship. However, a look at the inside cover reveals Solaar to be in a wrestler's costume, along with the other men in the picture.^[8] As Veronique Helenon discusses in her article concerning the French hip hop scene, references to Africa and "blackness" are a very important part of Solaar's music. Solaar recognizes and pays tribute to the African presence in France by using boxing and wrestling references. Senegalese boxer Battling Siki is referenced in the album's booklet. Although Siki won the light heavyweight boxing championship in 1922, he still faced racism from journalists.^[5] This image combined with songs concerning colonial oppression and the migration experience from Africa to France show Solaar's "blackness," something that is extremely important in France's hip hop scene. For example, in his song 'Les Colonies', Solaar discusses the similarities between the oppression of Africans by colonialists to the modern day exploitation of "third world" countries. "Cinquième As" includes lyrics in French, English, and Spanish, which represents his ideals that rap should be inclusive of all people.^[2]

[edit] 2004–Present: Chapitre 7 and international acclaim

"Da Vinci Claude", the first single from Solaar's album Chapitre 7, was launched in March 2007. The album was released June 18, 2007. In early 2004, his 2001 song "La Belle et Le Bad Boy" was featured on the final episode of the popular television series Sex and the City. The MTV series "The Hills" featured the song as well. MC Solaar is best known outside of France for his work on Guru's Jazzmatazz project and as a guest rapper on the Missy Elliott track "All N My Grill". Collaboration with Elliot propelled him to higher popularity in the American market. The single "Le Bien, Le Mal" (The Good, The Bad) has been a Hip Hop/Dance crossover hit and has received playtime on MTV, which characterizes his work this way: "His fluid phrasing makes up for his lack of English, and the production on his solo work (by DJ Jimmy Jay and Boom Bass of La Funk Mob) surpasses that of most of his hip-hop contemporaries."^[9]

MC Solaar is one of the few French rappers having success in the English-dominated American hip hop culture. Solaar has appeared in many Bollywood movies like Hum Tum. MC Solaar has released a few songs which never appeared on albums, including "Comme dans un film" (falsely known as "John Woo") and "Inch'Allah". He has criticized people for illegal downloading and producing altered versions of his albums Mach 6 and Chapitre 7.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

On December 7, 2003, MC Solaar married Chloé Bensemoun and on May 7, 2004, she gave birth to the couple's first child, Roman.^[6] In 2007, she gave birth to a girl named Bonnie.

Discography[link]

• Qui Sème le Vent Récolte le Tempo (1991)
• Prose Combat (1994)
• Paradisiaque (1997)
• MC Solaar (1998)
• Le Tour de la Question (2 CD) (1998)
• Cinquième As (2001)
• Mach 6 (2003)
• Chapitre 7 (2007)
• Magnum 567 (2011)

References and footnotes[link]

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Art Spiegelman
Born	(1948-02-15) February 15, 1948 (age 64) Stockholm, Sweden
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist, Writer, Artist, Editor
Notable works	Maus: A Survivor's Tale In the Shadow of No Towers
Awards	full list

Art Spiegelman (born February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor and comics advocate, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines Arcade and Raw has been highly influential, and he spent a decade as contributing editor of The New Yorker starting in 1992, where he also made a number of high-profile and sometimes controversial covers. He is married to Françoise Mouly.

Spiegelman's work first gained prominence in the underground comix scene in the 1970s. His work in this period was short and formally experimental, and often included autobiographical elements. A selection of these strips appeared in the collection Breakdowns in 1977. After Breakdowns, Spiegelman wanted to work on a "very long comic book". He settled on the theme of his father's experiences during as a Holocaust survivor. The book, Maus, would take thirteen years to complete. It drew both praise and criticism for depicting Nazis as cats and Jews as mice. The book won a number of prizes, most prominently a special Pulitzer Prize. It has come to be viewed as a pivotal work in comics, responsible for bringing serious scholarly attention to the medium.

Spiegelman and Mouly edited eleven issues of Raw from 1980 to 1991. The oversized comics and graphics magazine helped introduce a number of talents that would become prominent in alternative comics, such as Charles Burns, Chris Ware, Ben Katchor and others. It also introduced a number of European and Japanese cartoonists to the English-speaking comics world. Beginning in the 1990s, the couple edited comics and cartoons at The New Yorker.

Spiegelman's works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.

Biography[link]

Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden,^[1] to Polish Jews Vladek Spiegelman (1906–1982) and Anja Spiegelman (née Zylberberg) (1912–1968). Spiegelman grew up in Rego Park in Queens, New York City, New York and graduated from the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. Spiegelman attended Harpur College,^[2][1] now Binghamton University. He did not graduate but received an honorary doctorate from there 30 years later. At Harpur, Spiegelman audited classes by the avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs and became friends with him. Spiegelman has acknowledged Jacobs as one of the artists who inspired him, though he claims Harvey Kurtzman, the creator of Mad as his true spiritual father.^[3]

He had one brother named Richieu who died before Art was born. Richieu was caught in the conflicts of World War II and was sent to live with an aunt, Tosha, since the Zawiercie ghetto where she resided seemed safer than the Sosnowiec ghetto. When the Germans started to deport people from the Zawiercie ghetto, Tosha poisoned herself, Richieu, her own daughter (Bibi) and her niece (Lonia). (Maus, Volume 2) Art mentions in Maus that he felt like he had a sibling rivalry with a photograph, since his parents were still upset over the death of their first-born son.^{[citation needed]} The second volume of Maus was dedicated to Richieu and to Spiegelman's daughter Nadja Rachel (born 1987). He also has a son named Dashiell Alan (born 1992).^[4]

In the late winter of 1968, he suffered a brief but intense nervous breakdown, an event occasionally referred to in his work.^[5] After his release from a mental hospital, his mother, Anja, committed suicide.^[6] Spiegelman was a major figure in the underground comix movement of the 1960s and 1970s, contributing to publications such as Real nulp, Young Lust and Bizarre Sex. He co-founded a significant comics anthology publications, Arcade (with Bill Griffith) in San Francisco during the early 1970s. In 1973 he co-edited with Bob Schneider Whole Grains: A Book of Quotations, featuring the notable words of countercultural icons like Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan before they got much play in such mainstream reference works as Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. The book was mistakenly racked on the "Cookbook" shelves at some bookstores.^{[citation needed]}

In 1976, Spiegelman moved back to New York, where he met Françoise Mouly, an architectural student on a hiatus from her studies at the Beaux-Arts in Paris.^{[citation needed]} They married on July 12, 1977^[4] and he moved into her Soho loft in 1978. He lobbied to see Breakdowns, an anthology of his formal experiments in comics published around that time; it eventually came out from Belier Press to "resounding indifference".^{[citation needed]}

Undaunted, Mouly insisted on launching a new magazine with Spiegelman, parts of which she would print on the printing press she had brought into her loft, so together they started RAW in 1980. Among many other innovative works, RAW serialized Maus, which retraces Spiegelman's parents' story as they survived the Holocaust. In 1986, he released the first volume of Maus (Maus I: A Survivor's Tale, also known as Maus I: My Father Bleeds History) The second volume, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began followed in 1991. Maus attracted an unprecedented amount of critical attention for a work in the form of comics, including an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992.^[1]

Spiegelman has also worked in more commercial forums: after a summer internship (when he was 18) at Topps Bubble Gum, he was hired as a staff writer-artist-editor in Woody Gelman's Product Development Department.^[7] During his 20 years with Topps, Spiegelman invented Garbage Candy (candy in the form of garbage, sold in miniature plastic garbage cans), the Wacky Packages card series, Garbage Pail Kids and countless other hugely successful novelties. He farmed out Topps work to many of his friends, such as Jay Lynch, and to his former students, such as Mark Newgarden, collaborating on some products with Lynch and Bhob Stewart.^{[citation needed]}

After 20 years of asking Topps to grant the creators a percentage of the profits, and after other industries (such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics) had grudgingly conceded, Topps still refused. Spiegelman, who had assigned Topps work to many of his cartoonist friends or students, left over the issue of creative ownership and ownership of artwork. In 1989 Topps auctioned off the original artwork they had accumulated over the decades and kept the profits.^{[citation needed]}

Hired by Tina Brown in 1992, Spiegelman worked for The New Yorker for ten years but resigned a few months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The cover created by Spiegelman and Mouly for the September 24 issue of The New Yorker received wide acclaim and was voted in the top ten of magazine covers of the past 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.^{[citation needed]}

At first glance, the cover appears to be totally black, but upon close examination it reveals the silhouettes of the World Trade Center towers in a slightly darker shade of black. Mouly repositioned the silhouettes so that the North Tower's antenna breaks into the "W" of the logo. The towers were printed in a fifth black ink on a black field employing standard four-color printing inks, and an overprinted clear varnish was added. In some situations, the ghost images only became visible when the magazine was tilted toward a light source.^[8]

Spiegelman states that his resignation from The New Yorker was to protest the "widespread conformism" in the United States media. Spiegelman is a sharp critic of the administration of former President George W. Bush and claims that the American media has become "conservative and timid."^{[citation needed]}

In September 2004, he released In the Shadow of No Towers, a book relating his experience of the Twin Towers attack and the psychological after-effects. Beginning fall 2005, Spiegelman's new series "Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!" appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Time Magazine named Spiegelman one of their "Top 100 Most Influential People."^[9]

In the June 2006 edition of Harper's magazine, he published an article on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy which had occurred earlier in the year. At least one vendor, Canada's Indigo chain of booksellers, refused to sell the particular issue. Called "Drawing Blood: Outrageous Cartoons and the Art of Outrage" the article contained a survey of the sometimes dire effect of political cartooning on its creators, ranging from Honoré Daumier (who was imprisoned for a satirical work) to George Grosz (who was exiled). An internal memo advised Indigo staff to tell people "the decision was made based on the fact that the content about to be published has been known to ignite demonstrations around the world." The article raised the ire of Indigo because it seemed to promote the continuance of racially-motivated cartooning.^[10]

Spiegelman is a prominent advocate for the medium of comics. He taught courses in the history and aesthetics of comics at schools including the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. He tours the country giving a lecture he calls "Comix 101." An anthology of interviews with Spiegelman, spanning 25 years and a wide variety of printed venues, was published by University Press of Mississippi in 2007 as Art Spiegelman: Conversations.^{[citation needed]}

Together with Françoise Mouly, he published three hardcover anthologies of comics for children, called Little Lit, and in 2006, Big Fat Little Lit. He is an advisor for Mouly's newest publishing project, the TOON Books, a line of hardcover comics for young readers, which started publishing in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Spiegelman played himself in the 2007 episode "Husbands and Knives" of The Simpsons, alongside actor Jack Black and other comic book writers Dan Clowes and Alan Moore.^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

• 1982: Yellow Kid Award, Lucca, Italy, for Foreign Author ^[11]
• 1987: Inkpot Award
• 1988: Adamson Award, Sweden, for Maus
• 1988: Angoulême International Comics Festival, France, Prize for Best Comic Book, for Maus
• 1988: Urhunden Prize, Sweden, Best Foreign Album, for Maus
• 1990: Max & Moritz Prize, Erlangen, Germany, Special Prize, for Maus
• 1992: Pulitzer Prize Letters award, for Maus
• 1992: Eisner Award, Best Graphic Album (reprint), for Maus
• 1992: Harvey Award, Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work, for Maus
• 1993: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Prize for Best Comic Book, for Maus part 2
• 1993: Sproing Award, Norway, Best Foreign Album, for Maus
• 1993: Urhunden Prize, Best Foreign Album, for Maus part 2
• 1999: Eisner Award, inducted into the Hall of Fame
• 2011: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Grand Prix

Bibliography[link]

Author[link]

• Breakdowns: From Maus to Now, an Anthology of Strips. Nostalgia Press, 1977. ISBN 978-0-87897-052-0 / Belier Press ISBN 978-0-914646-14-3

  changed publisher between initial printing and publication

• Maus
• The Wild Party
• Open Me, I'm A Dog (children's book)
• Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits. Chronicle Books, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8118-3179-6
• In the Shadow of No Towers
• Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!. Pantheon, 2008. ISBN 978-0-375-42395-6

  centerpiece is a facsimile reprint of Breakdowns: From Maus to Now, also contains extensive foreword and afterword

• Be a Nose
• Jack and the Box. Toon Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9799238-3-8
• METAMAUS: Random House, New York: 2011.

Editor[link]

• Arcade (with Bill Griffith)
• RAW (with Françoise Mouly)
• The Narrative Corpse
• The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics (with Françoise Mouly). Abrams ComicArts, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8109-5730-5
• Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts. New York: Library of America, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59853-082-7

Works about Spiegelman[link]

• Art Spiegelman: Comics, Essays, Graphics and Scraps: From Maus to Now to MAUS to Now

  Published by Sellerio Editore - La Centrale dell'Arte (1999), ISBN 978-0-915043-07-1

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Art Spiegelman

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Art Spiegelman

• Works by or about Art Spiegelman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Art Spiegelman at the Comic Book DB
• Art Spiegelman at the Internet Movie Database
• Official biography for Art Spiegelman at the Steven Barclay Agency
• Art Spiegelman biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
• TOON Books, hardcover comics for beginning readers, published by Françoise Mouly, for which Spiegelman is an advisor
• Audio interview on The Sound of Young America: MP3 Link
• Gary Groth interviews Art Spiegelman (Lengthy excerpts from The Comics Journal 180 & 181).
• GreenCine interviews Art Spiegelman on Comics and Film, conducted by NPR's David D'Arcy
• Jeff Fleischer interviews Art Spiegelman about In The Shadow of No Towers from [Mother Jones]
• Grant Rogers interviews Art Spiegelman about Maus and Breakdowns in a Radio interview from Resonance FM
• Art Spiegelman: Conversations edited by Joseph Witek, University Press of Mississippi, 2007
• Art Spiegelman interviewed about graphic novelist Lynd Ward
• Kartalopoulos, Bill (Winter 2005). "Comics as Art: Spiegelman's Breakdowns". Indy Magazine. Archived from the original on June 22, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080622142420/http://64.23.98.142/indy/winter_2005/breakdowns/index.html. 
• Excerpts from Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@?*! in the Virginia Quarterly Review: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@?*! (Installment #1) (Installment #2) (Installment #3) (Installment #4)
• Excerpts: Art Spiegelman's Breakdowns: Comic excerpts from Art Spiegelman's Breakdowns in The Phoenix
• 2010 Interview in EXBERLINER Magazine

Mushtaq Ahmed

Personal information
Full name	Mushtaq Ahmed
Born	(1970-06-28) 28 June 1970 (age 41) Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan
Nickname	"Mushy","Mush"
Height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm leg break
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	Pakistan
Test debut (cap 116)	19 January 1990 v Australia
Last Test	24 October 2003 v South Africa
ODI debut (cap 69)	23 March 1989 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	3 October 2003 v South Africa
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	52	144	303	380
Runs scored	656	399	5059	1624
Batting average	11.71	9.50	15.66	11.27
100s/50s	0/2	0/0	0/20	0/0
Top score	59	34*	90*	41
Balls bowled	12532	7543	69402	18913
Wickets	185	161	1388	461
Bowling average	32.97	33.29	25.46	28.47
5 wickets in innings	10	1	103	4
10 wickets in match	3	–	32	–
Best bowling	7/56	5/36	9/48	7/24
Catches/stumpings	23/–	30/–	118/–	59/–
Source: Cricinfo, 5 April 2008

Mushtaq Ahmed (Urdu: مشتاق احمد) (born 28 June 1970) is a retired Pakistani cricketer who specialised as a leg spin bowler. He was known for his hard-to-pick googly. He memorably trapped Graeme Hick in front with one during the 1992 World Cup final. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997. Nevertheless, despite taking over 150 One Day International and Test wickets, he hasn't played international cricket since October 2003. He is now the spin bowling coach for the England Cricket Team.

However, he has played a lot of county cricket in England, including for Somerset and Surrey earlier in his career and more recently for Sussex.

In 2003, Mushtaq was the leading wicket taker in county cricket, finishing the season with 103 and inspiring Sussex to its first County Championship title. Following this, he was recalled by Pakistan but was soon dropped for being ineffective. In the 2004 season, Mushtaq was again the leading wicket taker in English county cricket with 84 scalps, but with Danish Kaneria's emergence as Pakistan's first-choice leg spinner, Mushtaq's international career was over.

In December 2006, the PCB appointed Mushtaq as assistant coach of the Pakistan team.^[1] He acted as interim coach for team's final game of the 2007 World Cup following the death of Bob Woolmer.^[2]

In 2006, Mushtaq (or "Mushy" as he is best known to Sussex fans) took 102 wickets as Sussex once more won the County Championship, as well as the C&G Trophy. He began the last Championship match of the season, against Nottinghamshire, on 89 wickets, but a haul of 13 in the match (including a career-best 9-48 in the second innings) took him past the hundred mark once again.

In 2007, Sussex won the County Championship for the second time in two years, again helped greatly by Mushtaq, who took 90 wickets.

Domestic career[link]

Mushtaq Ahmed had an amazing turn of fortune in 2002 when he was given a trial by Sussex County Cricket Club. He became the leading county wicket taker for four seasons in a row, playing a major role in Sussex's first ever county championship title.

On the 27 August 2008, it was announced by Sussex that Mushtaq was to retire from county cricket due to persistent knee trouble that had prevented him playing regularly during the 2008 season.^[3] He announced his intention to continue playing for Indian Cricket League (ICL) side Lahore Badshahs and in an interview with PakPassion.Net in September 2008, he wished that ICL would co-exist with IPL as well as mentioning his intention to begin coaching either in UK or Pakistan.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cricinfo article on Mushtaq Ahmed
• 2003 Frizzell County Championship Division One: Bowling Records (Cricinfo)
• 2004 Frizzell County Championship Division One: Bowling Records (Cricinfo)
• Exclusive Interview with Mushtaq Ahmed

v t e Pakistan squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup (1st title) 1 Imran Khan (c) 2 Aamer Sohail 3 Aaqib Javed 4 Ijaz Ahmed 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq 6 Iqbal Sikander 7 Javed Miandad 8 Moin Khan (wk) 9 Mushtaq Ahmed 10 Rameez Raja 11 Saleem Malik 12 Wasim Akram 13 Wasim Haider 14 Zahid Fazal

v t e Pakistan squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 Wasim Akram (c) 2 Aamer Sohail (Vice-captain) 3 Aaqib Javed 4 Ata-ur-Rehman 5 Ijaz Ahmed 6 Inzamam-ul-Haq 7 Javed Miandad 8 Mushtaq Ahmed 9 Rameez Raja 10 Rashid Latif (wk) 11 Saeed Anwar 12 Saleem Malik 13 Saqlain Mushtaq 14 Waqar Younis

v t e Pakistan squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup Runners-up 1 Wasim Akram (c) 2 Moin Khan (wk) 3 Saleem Malik 4 Ijaz Ahmed 5 Waqar Younis 6 Saeed Anwar 7 Mushtaq Ahmed 8 Inzamam-ul-Haq 9 Saqlain Mushtaq 10 Shahid Afridi 11 Azhar Mahmood 12 Abdul Razzaq 13 Yousuf Youhana 14 Shoaib Akhtar 15 Wajahatullah Wasti Coach: Mushtaq Mohammad

v t e Pakistan squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup 1 Inzamam-ul-Haq (c) 2 Younis Khan 3 Azhar Mahmood 4 Danish Kaneria 5 Iftikhar Anjum 6 Imran Nazir 7 Kamran Akmal (wk) 8 Mohammad Hafeez 9 Mohammad Sami 10 Mohammad Yousuf 11 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 12 Shahid Afridi 13 Shoaib Malik 14 Umar Gul 15 Yasir Arafat Coach: Woolmer Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Abdul Razzaq were named in the original squad but injuries led to them being withdrawn. Mushtaq Ahmed acted as temporary coach for Pakistan's final group game following the death of Bob Woolmer.

Bill Bryson
Born	(1951-12-08) December 8, 1951 (age 60) Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A.
Occupation	Author, University Chancellor
Genres	Travel, English language, Science
www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/index.html

William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, (born December 8, 1951) is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before returning to the US in 1995. In 2003 Bryson moved back to Britain, living in the old rectory of Wramplingham, Norfolk, and was appointed Chancellor of Durham University.

Early life[link]

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of William and Mary Bryson. (In 2006 Bryson published The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a humorous account of his childhood years in Des Moines.) His mother was of Irish stock.^[1] He has an older brother, Michael and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth.

Bryson attended Drake University for two years before dropping out in 1972, deciding to instead backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, the pseudonymous Stephen Katz. Some of his experiences from this trip are relived as flashbacks in Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, which documents a similar journey Bryson made twenty years later.

Move to the United Kingdom[link]

Bryson first visited Britain in 1973 during a tour of Europe and decided to stay after landing a job working in a psychiatric hospital – the now defunct Holloway Sanatorium in Virginia Water, Surrey. He met a nurse there named Cynthia, whom he married and they moved to the USA in 1975 so that Bryson could complete his college degree. In 1977, they settled in Britain, where they remained until 1995. Eventually living in North Yorkshire and mainly working as a journalist, Bryson became chief copy editor of the business section of The Times and then deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent. He left journalism in 1987, three years after the birth of his third child. Living in Kirkby Malham, North Yorkshire, Bryson started writing independently and in 1990 their fourth child, Samuel, was born.

Although able to apply for British citizenship, Bryson has declined a citizenship test, declaring himself "too cowardly" to take it.^[2]

Writings[link]

In 1995, Bryson returned to the United States to live in Hanover, New Hampshire, for some years, the stories of which feature in his book I'm A Stranger Here Myself, alternatively titled Notes from a Big Country in Britain, Canada and Australia. During his time in the United States, Bryson decided to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz (a pseudonym), about which he wrote the book A Walk in the Woods. In 2003 the Brysons and their four children returned to Britain and now live in Norfolk.

Also in 2003, in conjunction with World Book Day, British voters chose Bryson's book Notes from a Small Island as that which best sums up British identity and the state of the nation.^[3] In the same year, he was appointed a Commissioner for English Heritage.

In 2004, Bryson won the prestigious Aventis Prize for best general science book with A Short History of Nearly Everything.^[4] This 500-page popular literature piece explores not only the histories and current statuses of the sciences, but also reveals their humble and often humorous beginnings. Although one "top scientist" is alleged to have jokingly described the book as "annoyingly free of mistakes",^[5] Bryson himself makes no such claim and a list of some reported errors in the book is available online. In 2005, the book won the EU Descartes Prize for science communication.^[4]

Bryson in the regalia of Chancellor of Durham University, with Durham Cathedral in the background

Bryson has also written two popular works on the history of the English language — Mother Tongue and Made in America — and, more recently, an update of his guide to usage, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words (published in its first edition as The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words in 1983). These books were popularly acclaimed and well-reviewed, though they received some criticism claiming that they contained factual errors, urban myths and folk etymologies.^[6][7]

Honours[link]

In 2005, Bryson was appointed Chancellor of Durham University,^[5] succeeding the late Sir Peter Ustinov and has been particularly active with student activities, even appearing in a Durham student film (the sequel to The Assassinator) and promoting litter picks in the city.^[8] He had praised Durham as "a perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island. He has also been awarded honorary degrees by numerous universities, including Bournemouth University and in April 2002 the Open University.^[9]

In 2005, Bryson received the President's Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for advancing the cause of the chemical sciences. In the same year, Bryson and the RSC jointly created the Bill Bryson prize, an annual award to encourage science writing in schools. ^[10]

In 2006, Frank Cownie, the mayor of Des Moines, awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be known as "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day."^[11]

In November 2006, Bryson interviewed the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the state of science and education.^[12]

On 13 December 2006, Bryson was awarded an honorary OBE for his contribution to literature.^[13] The following year, he was awarded the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin.

In the year of 2007, Bryson won the Golden Eagle Award.^[14]

In January 2007, Bryson was the Schwartz Visiting Fellow of the Pomfret School in Connecticut.^[15]

In May 2007, he became the President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.^[16][17] His first area of focus in this role was the establishment of an anti-littering campaign across England. He discussed the future of the countryside with Richard Mabey, Sue Clifford, Nicholas Crane and Richard Girling at CPRE's Volunteer Conference in November 2007.

In October 2010, it was announced that Bryson would be stepping down from the role of Chancellor at Durham University at the end of 2011.^[18]

Books by Bill Bryson[link]

Travel[link]

• The Palace under the Alps and Over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries (1985)
• The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America (1989)
• Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe (1991)
• Notes from a Small Island (1995). (Adapted for television by Carlton Television in 1998)
• A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (1998) (Featuring Stephen Katz)
• Notes from a Big Country (UK) / I'm a Stranger Here Myself (U.S.) (1999)
• Down Under (UK) / In a Sunburned Country (U.S.) (2000)
• Bill Bryson's African Diary (2002) (travels in Africa for CARE International)
• Walk About (2002) (Combined in one volume are Down Under and A Walk in the Woods)

Language[link]

• The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words (1984)
• Made in America (UK) / Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (U.S.) (1994)
• The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way (U.S.) / Mother Tongue: The English Language (UK) (1990) (Adapted for Journeys in English (2004) BBC Radio 4)
• Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words (2002)
• Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors (2008)

Science[link]

• A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)
• A Really Short History of Nearly Everything (2008) (Children's version of 2003 book)
• On the Shoulders of Giants (editor, 2009)
• Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery and the Genius of the Royal Society (editor, 2010)

Biography[link]

• Shakespeare: The World as Stage (2007)

History[link]

• At Home: A Short History of Private Life (2010) Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-60827-5. OCLC 761512787.

Memoir[link]

• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bill Bryson

• Bill Bryson at Random House
• Profile at Durham University
• Works at Open Library
• Article archive at Journalisted
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Bill Bryson on Charlie Rose
• Bill Bryson at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Bill Bryson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Bill Bryson collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Bill Bryson collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything presentation at the Royal Society
• A brief excerpt from The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid(archived from the original on 2007-10-05)
• The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid Reviews at Metacritic (archived from the original on 2008-04-30)
• BBC Wear - Bill Bryson loves Durham
• Interview with Bill Bryson about organ donation
• BBC Radio Five Live interview with Bill Bryson about the British countryside
• CPRE interview on the proposed South Downs National Park (archived from the original on
• Interview with Bill Bryson about his career in travel writing.
• At Home: A History of Private Life by Bill Bryson: A review, James Walton, The Telegraph, 19 June 2010
• Bill Bryson interviewed by Sophie Elmhirst on New Statesman, 14 October 2010.