Contributors

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was born in Barcelona in 1939. He was a journalist, novelist and creator of Pepe Carvalho, a fast-living, gourmet private detective. Montalbán won both the Raymond Chandler Prize and the French Grand Prix of Detective Fiction for his thrillers, which are translated into all major languages. He died in October 2003.

Boris Vian (1920-59) was a French writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. Best remembered for L'Écume des jours (translated into English by Stanley Chapman as Froth on the Daydream and renamed Mood Indigo to tie in with the film, starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou), Vian's work is characterised by the dazzling wordplay and surreal plots which made him a cult figure in 1960s France and beyond.

Kevin Vaughan-Smith is a former EY Associate Partner and consultant who has worked with business leaders including IBM, BP, Aviva, Vodafone, O2, and 3 of the Big 4, including 7 years as Managing Director of Franklin Covey UK.

Dr Dorothy Wade is a consultant psychologist at the Royal Free London NHS Trust, specialising in working with critically ill patients and their families. She is also honorary associate professor at University College London, and co-chair of UK Psychologists in Intensive Care (PINC-UK).

Previously a journalist, including as Deputy Editor of the Sunday Times Magazine, her experience commissioning and writing about psychology, health, medicine and neuroscience led her to retrain as a psychologist. She has written numerous academic book chapters, journal articles and professional guidelines. An experienced public speaker and broadcaster, she lives in London.

Altered States of Mind is her first book and in 2024 was awarded the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for non-fiction.

Hans van de Ven is an authority on the history of 19th and 20th century China. At the University of Cambridge he serves as Professor of Modern Chinese History. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the author of Breaking with the Past: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service and Global Origins of Modernity in China, War and Nationalism in China: 1925-1945 and From Friend to Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1920-1927. The Battle for China, a book of essays he co-edited, received the 2012 Distinguished Book Award of the Society for Military History.

Jean-Pierre Vernant was a French historian and anthropologist, specialising in ancient Greece. Heavily influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, he applied structuralist theory to Greek tragedy, myth and society. He died in 2007.

Hana Videen has been hoarding Old English words since 2013, when she began tweeting one a day. Now over 20,000 people follow her for these daily gems from her wordhord. After her Old English doctorate at King's College London, she is now a writer and blogger in Canada, translating curiosities of history into engaging narratives.

Follow Hana on Twitter: @OEWordhord
And visit her website: www.oldenglishwordhord.com

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer and scientist. His many works of genius include The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.

Mark van Vugt is professor of psychology at the VU University of Amsterdam and holds honorary positions at the Universities of Oxford and Kent in the UK.

Frans de Waal was a Dutch-American primatologist and ethologist. Named as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People, he is the author of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, among many other works. He was also the C. H. Candler Professor in Emory University's Psychology Department and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He lived in Atlanta, Georgia and died in 2024.