Contributors

Dame Vivienne Westwood is one of the icons of our age: fashion designer, activist, co-creator of punk, global brand and grandmother. Her career has successfully spanned five decades and her work has influenced millions across the world.

Alex Wheatle (1963-2025) was born to Jamaican parents living in London. He spent most of his childhood in a children's home, which he left at 14 to live in a hostel in Brixton. At 18, he was involved in the Brixton uprising and went to prison for 3 months. On his release, he continued to perform as a DJ and MC under the name Yardman Irie, moving in the early '90s on to the performance poetry circuit as The Brixton Bard. His second novel, East of Acre Lane, won the London New Writers Award (2000).

Clive Webb is an award-winning historian based at the University of Sussex, where he is Professor of Modern American History and is the recipient of a Leverhulme Fellowship. He has written for numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Guardian, Independent and The New York Times. He has also contributed to news programmes and documentaries on radio and television in Britain and the United States.

Alan Watts published over 25 books, including The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, The Way of Zen and Tao: The Watercourse Way.

He was a philosopher, academic and theologian, who wrote and spoke widely on Asian philosophy and theology. He is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He was the author of more than twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion. He died in 1973.

Christian Weaver is an award-winning human rights barrister, social justice campaigner and author of The Law in 60 Seconds: A Pocket Guide to Your Rights. He has represented families in some of the country's most high-profile inquests, including that of Awaab Ishak, a toddler who tragically died in social housing due to prolonged exposure to mould. The case led to the creation of 'Awaab's Law' which directly benefits over 4 million social housing tenants.

In 2023 Christian was named Legal Aid Newcomer of the Year; he was listed in The Lawyer Hot 100 2024 and has been featured on nearly all UK major news platforms including BBC News, the Guardian and Radio 4. Concerned about the increasing number of people he knew being stopped and searched, in 2018 he created the YouTube series 'The Law in 60 Seconds' to inform people of their rights and make the law accessible; those videos have now been viewed thousands of times. Christian has worked at INQUEST and Liberty; currently he is instructed as a barrister on the Covid-19 Public Inquiry. Alongside this, he is touring the UK educating the public on their legal rights. He is from Nottingham and based in Manchester.

Bob Weber is a journalist and author based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Arthur De Weduwen is associate editor of the Universal Short Title Catalogue project at St Andrews. This is his fifth book.

William Weir was born in 1933 and is the fourth generation of the family to have worked for the Weir Group. He succeeded his father as the third Viscount Weir in 1976. In 1999 he retired from the company having worked in a number of positions and served as chairman for 24 years. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he joined Weir's in 1958 after National Service in the Royal Navy.

His other business appointments have included being a member of the Court of the Bank of England, chairman of Balfour Beatty and C. P. Ships Ltd, and a director of British Steel Corporation, the British Bank of the Middle East and Canadian Pacific Railway. He has also been president of BEAMA, the trade association for the electrical manufacturing industries, and a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Monetary Policy.

He is married and lives in Ayrshire, and has three children.

Silke Rose West is a Waldorf teacher with over thirty years of experience teaching kindergarten-aged children. In 1995, she cofounded the Taos Waldorf School and today she runs an independent forest kindergarten called Taos Earth Children. She is renowned in Taos for her puppet shows and storytelling and consults with teachers and schools across the US.

Michael Wex (born September 12, 1954) is a Canadian novelist, playwright, translator, lecturer, performer, and author of books on language and literature. His specialty is Yiddish and his book Born to Kvetch was a surprise bestseller in 2005. Wex lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter Sabina.
Michael Wex was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada to a family of descendants of Rebbes of Ciechanów and Stryków. He has taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan.

Cory Wharton-Malcolm is a running coach, Runner's World columnist, founder of West London running crew TrackMafia and Apple Fitness+ trainer who embarks on running adventures all over the world with 'Time To Run'. Previously Nike Run Club's European Head Coach and still the voice of the Nike Run Club app, he has been featured in publications including Guardian, Evening Standard, Men's Health and Metro.

Gianni Washington's writing has been published in The Fat City Review online, LitroNY.com, the horror anthology Brief Grislys and read aloud on the Great American Folk Show. She is a monthly contributor to the Chicago Review of Books and holds a PhD in Creative Writing from The University of Surrey. She worked for many years as a bookseller in London but is currently based in North Carolina

James Ward's London-based blog, I Like Boring Things, has featured in the Independent, Observer and on the BBC website. He is co-founder of Stationery Club and the Boring Conference, featured in the Wall Street Journal and on Radio 4. Adventures in Stationery is his first book.

Amanda Waring is a campaigner for dignity within health and social care, and the author of The Heart of Care and Being A Good Carer. A filmmaker, her campaigning film 'What Do You See' has been shown across the world, and she is a leader of training workshops on dignified care of the elderly. Amanda is a presenter for Aged Care TV, an adviser on the government's Dignity Board.

Philippa Waring is the author of Aloe Vera, A Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions, Ginger, Olive Oil, and The Way of Feng Shui.