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.
Born and bred in Yorkshire, Ashley Ward is a professor in Animal Behaviour at the University of Sydney, the culmination of a career spent studying the behaviour of animals from tiny Antarctic krill to mammals, including humans. He has published over 100 scientific journal articles and a highly cited academic book.
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
Catriona Ward was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in the US, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen and Morocco. She read English at the University of Oxford and spent several years working as an actor in New York. When she returned to the UK she worked on her first novel while writing for a human rights foundation, then took an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Her first novel, Rawblood, was published in 2015 and won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel in 2016. She won again in 2018 for Little Eve, which also won the prestigious Shirley Jackson Award. In 2021 she published her bestselling novel The Last House on Needless Street, which was both a Richard and Judy Book Club and BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick. It was awarded the August Derleth Award in 2022, making Ward the only woman to prize three times. She was shortlisted again for her fourth novel, Sundial, in 2023. Her fifth novel, Looking Glass Sound, was shortlisted the Fingerprint Genre-Busting Book of the Year in 2024. Her next novel, Nowhere Burning, will be published by Viper in 2025.
Judith Watt is a writer and fashion historian, whose most recent book was on Ossie Clark for the V&A. She lives in London with her miniature dachshunds, Hettie and Ludwig.
Karolina Watroba is a research fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford, where she works on modern literature and film across eight European languages and beyond, with a focus on German, English, and Polish.
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.
Bernard Wasserstein has been a historian of modern Jewish and Middle Eastern history for over thirty years. He taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was Professor of History at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. From 1996 to 2000 he served as President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies; and is now Professor of History at Chicago University.
Bernard Wasserstein has been a historian of the Israeli-Arab conflict for the past thirty years. He taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1982 to 1996 he was Professor of History at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and from 1996 to 2000 he served as President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He was Professor of History at the University of Glasgow and is now Professor of History at Chicago. Divided Jerusalem (also published by Profile Books) aroused widespread comment and was particularly praised for its lucidity and objectivity.
David Watkin was Professor of Architectural History at the University of Cambridge. He has written major studies of architects like Soane and Thomas Hope and the influential polemic Architecture and Morality. He is now retired and lives in Chicago.
Nigel Watson graduated from Durham University with a degree in history before embarking on his career as a writer and consultant. He is the author of several company and educational histories including The Durham Difference, MGS: A History at 500 and The Hart of Waste. He lives with his wife and children in North Yorkshire.
Paul Watson is the youngest international football coach in the world. Before taking up coaching, he worked as a journalist for Football Italia. He lives in London.
