Jeremy Clarkson (above) has been making headlines again as Britain's less 'newsy' newspapers insist he's been carrying out extra-curricular marital duties. As a presenter of television's Top Gear, which is enjoyed by fans in more than 100 countries, he frequently makes comments that a certain type of viewer loves to be outraged about. Clarkson often invokes well-known personalities, for good or bad, in his car critiques: the Audi R8 was tied to Keira Knightley; the Audi RS4, Adolf Hitler; the Ferrari 355, Julia Roberts. The Mercedes CLS55 AMG he described as sounding 'like Barry White eating wasps' ...
White's passion for music was first ignited in prison, at the age of 17. Despite being unable to read or write music, White, who died on American Independence Day, 2003, sold more than 100 million records and boasted of meeting hundreds of 'Barrys' who had been conceived to his seductive, soulful, music. A devout Christian, the 'Walrus of Love' turned down a role that was made specifically with him in mind - the part of Chef in satirical cartoon series South Park ...
Born from one of the first viral videos, South Park's huge success can be at least partly attributed to it being laced with profanities, which the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, say offer realistic insight into how eight-year-old boys talk when unattended. The pair say their unusual animation style was inspired by their lifelong admiration for the work of Monty Python veteran Terry Gilliam ...
The only 'Python' not to have been born British, Gilliam fled the United States to avoid becoming a 'terrorist' after experiencing police brutality elicited by his long hair: 'I'm a better cartoonist than I am a bomb maker. That's why so much of the US is still standing.' With a portfolio of films as diverse as Brazil, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the director is a divisive figure in Hollywood: Warner turned down a request to have Gilliam film the silver-screen adaptations of the Harry Potter franchise by its author, J.K. Rowling ...
Rowling is one of many female writers to have suffered from clinical depression. The illness has even informed her work: the soul-sucking ghouls called Dementors came about when she was laid low by the illness. Other writers to have been victims of depression include Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. This year, a severe bout of the illness beset Ireland's best-selling female author, Marian Keyes ...
The so-called pioneer of 'chick-lit', Keyes says she has been plagued with depression since the age of 11 ('I was an alcoholic in waiting'). On a list of the world's 100 best-selling authors of the noughties, compiled by Britain's Telegraph newspaper, Keyes ranked No 28 with five million sales, narrowly beating the next on the list, a journalist who had 4.9 million sales, motormouth Jeremy Clarkson.