Andrew Marr is one of the most influential broadcasters on television. Marr's eponymous Show is regarded as the programme to watch on a Sunday morning. He suffered a severe stroke in January 2013, which left him physically impaired.
Andrew Marr is one of the most influential broadcasters on television. Marr's eponymous Show is regarded as the programme to watch on a Sunday morning. He suffered a severe stroke in January 2013, which left him physically impaired.
Andrew Marr is one of the most influential broadcasters on television. Marr's eponymous Show is regarded as the programme to watch on a Sunday morning. He suffered a severe stroke in January 2013, which left him physically impaired.
most influential broadcasters on television. His eponymous discussion programme, on which he quizzes newsmakers particularly the political elite, with whom he shows neither fear, nor favour is regarded as THE programme to watch on a Sunday morning if you yearn to know exactly what is going on in the world. As a political commentator, Andrew has worked for various publications including The Scotsman and The Economist, before he took over as Editor at the Independent Newspaper between 1996 and 1998. He was Political Editor at BBC News between 2000 and 2005. Other TV credits include BBC 2s Andrew Marrs History of Modern Britain, the excellent Andrew Marrs Megacities, and, in early 2012, he presented The Diamond Queen, a threepart series about Queen Elizabeth II. He has won Two British Academy Television Awards as well as numerous journalistic awards and accolades. He suffered a severe stroke in January 2013, which left him physically impaired, and Andrew has battled back from the debilitating effects to smoothly resume his career where he left off.
Mike Oliver is an academic,
author and disability rights activist and is Emeritus Professor of Disability Studies at the University of Greenwich. Much of his work has been centered around advocating and changing the social model of disability. Mike was the first professor of disability studies in the UK and is also the author of many books and other publications on disability, including numerous newspaper articles. He was a disability activist and served on the governing council of several disability organisations including the British Council of Disabled People and the Spinal Injuries Association. Mike is known as the academic who first defined the social model of disability. He said: We were the ones who escaped from our isolation and segregation, whether we were in homes or our families. No-one else did it for us. We created a strong and very powerful disabled peoples movement which promoted independent living as one of the central planks of our struggles for full inclusion into society. Mike is a massive Arsenal supporter and is married with two daughters and two granddaughters.
Sir Terry Pratchett
Geoff Adams-Spink
Best-selling author; creator of the Discworlds
Series
Director, Adams-Spink Ltd; Disability Rights UK
Trustee
The world-renowned author of
fantasy novels is best known for his Discworld series of about 40 books. His first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971 and his first Discworld novel was published in 1983. He has written, on average, two books a year. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was, at the time of its release, the third-fastest-selling hardback adultaudience novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days. He has sold over 87 million books worldwide in 37 languages and is currently the second most-read writer in the UK. He was made an OBE in 1998, was subsequently knighted for services to literature in 2009, and received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement a year later in 2010. In 2007, he announced he was suffering from Alzheimers disease and has now turned his attention to raising awareness of the lack of funding given to combating the affliction. Since 1998, Terry has been testing a prototype device that has slightly improved his condition and he has written, with the help of British sci-fi writer Stephen Baxter, three novels since being diagnosed with the condition. Due to his disease he dictates texts to his assistant or uses speech-recognition software to put together his novels.
Geoff Adams-Spink was born in
1962 with disabilities caused by the morning sickness drug thalidomide. After attending specialist schools, he studied French and politics at Loughborough University, obtaining a first-class degree. His university careers adviser advised him and all fellow language students that applying for the fast stream of the Diplomatic Service would be pointless because, nobody from this university has ever got in. Incensed at having his expectations revised downwards, he set about applying. At the end of the rigorous process, he got in. At the same time, he pursued a lifelong passion for the radio by applying to the BBC. He was offered a traineeship, but he had a difficult decision to make. Eventually, he decided to join the BBC where his creativity would flourish better than in the Foreign Office. He spent 22 years working as a journalist and manager for the Corporation, the last eight of which were as Age & Disability Correspondent for BBC News. He left the corporation in 2011 and now runs his own consultancy firm, as well as chairing an international confederation of organisations of people affected by congenital limb difference. He is also an associate of the Business Disability Forum (BDF), and a Trustee of Disability Rights UK.
Summary and Analysis of The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary: Based on the book by Simon Winchester