Authors A-Z

Peter J Bentley

Professor Peter Bentley is one of the most creative thinkers in computer science, working with scientists of all different disciplines to model virtual experiments. He is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Computer Science, University College London and is known for his prolific research covering all aspects of Evolutionary Computation and Digital Biology. He is the author of the popular science books The Book of Numbers (Cassell Illustrated), Digital Biology (Simon and Schuster USA), and the academic books The PhD Application Handbook, Evolutionary Design by Computers, Creative Evolutionary Systems and On Growth, Form and Computers. He is the host of the Royal Institution's monthly Café Scientifique, contributing editor for Wired UK and a regular contributor to programming for the BBC and Discovery Channel.

William J Dobson

William J. Dobson is politics and foreign affairs editor for Slate. He has been an editor at Foreign Affairs and Newsweek International. Under his direction, Foreign Policy won the coveted National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2007 and 2009. His articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Washington, DC.

Christopher J. Yates

Christopher J. Yates studied law at Wadham College, Oxford from 1990-93 and initially pursued a career in law before he began working in puzzles, representing the UK at the World Puzzle Championships. Since then he has worked as a freelance journalist, sub-editor and puzzles editor/compiler. In 2007 he moved to New York City with his wife, and currently lives in the East Village.

Paul J. Zak

Paul Zak is the founding Director of the Centre for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard. Professor Zak is an expert in neuroeconomics, a field he helped create, and is a recognised expert in oxytocin.

JLS

JLS is comprised of Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, Jonathan 'JB' Gill and Oritsé Williams. Formed in 2007, the group became one of the biggest boy bands of their generation after reaching The X Factor finals. The band announced their decision to split in April 2013 to pursue their own personal projects but remain the best of friends.

Belinda Jack

Belinda Jack is the author of an acclaimed biography of George Sand and Beatrice's Spell: The Enduring Legend of Beatrice Cenci.

Ian Jack

After working on a weekly newspaper in Scotland in the 1960s, Ian Jack worked from 1970 to 1986 at the Sunday Times as a reporter, editor, feature writer and foreign correspondent. He was a co-founder of the Independent on Sunday in 1989 and edited the paper from 1991 to 1995. Having been editor since 1995, he left Granta in 2007 and now writes regularly for the Guardian. He is the author of two books of non-fiction - Before the Oil Ran Out: Britian 1977-86 (1987) and The Crash That Stopped Britain (2001).

Albert Jack

ALBERT JACK is a writer and historian. His first book, Red Herrings and White Elephants, explored the origins of well-known phrases; an international bestseller, it was serialised by the Sunday Times for over a year. He followed up this success with a series of bestsellers including Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep and Pop Goes the Weasel, a book exploring the dark histories and little-known meanings behind nursery rhymes. Fascinated by discovering the truth behind the world's great stories, Albert has become an expert in explaining the unexplained. He is now a veteran of hundreds of live television shows and thousands of radio appearances worldwide. He divides his time between Guildford and Cape Town.

Malcolm Jack

William Beckford (1760-1844) inherited a large fortune and, at the age of nineteen, went on a tour of Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy. He was a Member of Parliament and a traveller who spent large sums of money collecting rare books, curiosities and paintings for the embellishment of his Gothic Extravaganza, Fonthill Abbey, where he lived in opulent seclusion until forced by bankruptcy to sell it in 1822.

Libby Jackson

Libby Jackson is one of Britain’s foremost space experts, and is the Human Spaceflight and Microgravity Programme Manager for the UK Space Agency. Libby’s career working in the space industry began when she applied for work experience at NASA aged 17 from her secondary school in Kent. Weeks later she was sitting in Mission Control in Houston. 10 years on, and after completing a physics degree at Imperial College, she was back working at Mission Control from the European Space Agency side in Munich. Since then she has worked as a Columbus Flight Director on missions to the International Space Station. From 2014 – 2016, she managed the hugely successful UK Space Agency education and outreach programmes that supported Tim Peake’s mission.

Douglas Jackson

A journalist by profession, Douglas Jackson transformed a lifelong fascination for Rome and the Romans in to his first two highly-praised novels, Caligula and Claudius. His third, Hero of Rome, introduced readers to a new series hero, Gaius Valerius Verrens. Seven further novels featuring Valerius have followed - the most recent being Glory of Rome - and have won critical acclaim and confirm their author as one of the UK's foremost historical novelists. An active member of the Historical Writers Association and the Historical Novel Society, Douglas Jackson lives near Stirling in Scotland.

Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson was born in California in 1916. When her short story The Lottery was first published in the New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has since become one of the most iconic American stories of all time. Her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, was published in the same year and was followed by Hangsaman, The Bird's Nest, The Sundial, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, widely seen as her masterpiece. In addition to her dark, brilliant novels, she wrote lightly fictionalized magazine pieces about family life with her four children and her husband, the critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Shirley Jackson died in 1965.

Clare Jackson

Clare Jackson is the Senior Tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. She has presented a number of highly successful programmes on the Stuart dynasty for the BBC and is currently writing a new history of Stuart Britain during the long seventeenth century (c.1585-1715).

Julian Jackson

Julian Jackson is Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London and one of the foremost British experts on twentieth-century France. His previous books include France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times History Book Award, and his celebrated The Fall of France, which won the Wolfson History Prize in 2004. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

Pete Jackson

Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time with Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found, as many people do, support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls, all banded together due to one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.

Laura Lynne Jackson

Laura Lynne Jackson is clairvoyant, clairaudient, clairsentient and a psychic medium; she also reads auras (people's energy fields). She has been reading professionally for over 20 years. She currently serves as a Windbridge Certified Research Medium with the Windbridge Institute for Applied Research in Human Potential where she participates in afterlife research. In February 2011, Laura was invited to become a Windbridge Certified Research Medium (WCRM). Her certification involved eight thorough screening, testing, and training steps during which her ability to report accurate and specific information about the deceased was scientifically tested under blinded conditions. Laura has also been a certified medium since 2005 with the Forever Family Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to further the understanding of Afterlife Science through research and education while providing support and healing for people in grief.

Phil Jackson

PHIL JACKSON is arguably the greatest coach in the history of the NBA. His reputation was established as head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989-1998; during his tenure, Chicago won six NBA titles. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five NBA titles, from 2000 to 2010. He holds the record for the most championships in NBA history as a player and a head coach. He also has the highest winning percentage of any NBA coach (.704). Jackson was a player on the 1970 and 1973 NBA champion New York Knicks. In 2007 Jackson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In addition to Eleven Rings, he is also the author of Maverick,Sacred Hoops, and, with his friend Charley Rosen, More Than a Game.

Kevin Jackson

Kevin Jackson has written thousands of articles, primarily on film, photography, modern art, literature and cultural history for, among others, The New Yorker, Granta, Prospect, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Guardian, Evening Standard and Vogue. He has been a script editor and script consultant, lectured and taught at the National Film Theatre, the Royal College of Art and the Victoria and Albert Musuem, presented documentaries for Radio 3 and Radio 4, directed and produced films for television, written the book and lyrics for a rock opera, curated film seasons and a photography exhibition as well as authored and edited more than twenty books.

Sunshine Jackson

Sunshine Jackson is a BAFTA-nominated documentary editor and edit producer. Sunshine spent three years at home after the birth of her second child, during which she founded the Hopscotch newsletter. Sunshine lives in South London with her seven- and four-year-old daughters, Florence and Bibi, her husband Jason and their cat Rosie. They never tire of the often-overlooked Investigate Centre on the lower ground floor of the Natural History Museum, and adore the fig tree in the wildlife area of Myatts Field Park (they’ve named it Tatty Bongle!). Kate Hodges has been editing, writing and researching the Hopscotch newsletter since 2012 and has over 20 years’ experience in magazine journalism. Kate lives in North London with her partner Gareth and three-year-old twins, Arthur and Dusty. Their favourite thing to do in London is to build dens in Queen’s Wood in Highgate and run around the massive hangar full of planes at the RAF Museum in Colindale.

Emma Jackson

Emma Jackson is now 22 and still lives in the North of England. She is committed to working towards stopping child sexual exploitation and works with the charity CROP – Coalition for the Removal of Pimping. She has taken part in conferences with the Council of Europe’s campaign to stop sexual violence against children, the National Working Group for sexually exploited children and young people, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), Barnardo’s and Safe & Sound Derby. She has also helped her local police force with training. Media appearances include BBC News, Panorama, Sky News, BBC1’s The Big Question and she was a consultant for Whitney’s storyline in EastEnders.

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009), dubbed the 'King of Pop', was one of the most commercially successful entertainers of all time. After making his debut in 1964 as a member of The Jackson 5, he started a solo career in 1971. His 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time. His other achievements feature multiple Guinness World Records - including the 'Most Successful Entertainer of All Time' - 13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles, and estimated sales of over 750 million records. Jackson died at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009, in Los Angeles, California after suffering from cardiac arrest. His memorial service was broadcast live around the world.

Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson was a prominent police officer for 32 years. He rose through the ranks to Detective Superintendent and presided over many murder and serious crime investigations. He is now retired and lives in Glasgow.

General Sir Mike Jackson

General Sir Mike Jackson is the best known British General of modern times. He retired in the autumn of 2006 after almost 45 years of service in the British army finishing as its head as Chief of the General Staff.

Lee Jackson

Lee Jackson trained as a librarian and has worked in various London legal colleges. He lives in London.