Contributors

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.

Vivien Twaddle is an eminent member of the Cognitive Therapy Centre in Newcastle and a consultant clinical psychologist for the NHS.

Joyce Tyldesley's books include acclaimed biographies of Rameses the Great, and the queens Hatchepsut and Nefertiti. She is the author of Egypt: How a Lost Civilization Was Rediscovered, which accompanied a major BBC television series. Her books have been published all over the world. She lives in Bolton, Lancashire.

Sally Urwin is (probably) the shortest farmer in England and lives with her family and a lot of sheep in Northumberland. She used to work in the most depressing job in the world – marketing manager for a bankruptcy practitioner – but made a bid for freedom after nabbing farmer Steve from the Dating Direct website in 2001.

Federico Varese is Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Mafias on the Move: How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories.

A H (Bob) Vause is a Fellow of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants and an Emeritus Fellow of Templeton College, Oxford, where he has taught for more than 20 years. He is consultant to many large companies.

The Velominati are founders of a singular online community – www.velominati.com – which celebrates the history of road cycling with a distinctive point of view, best described as (ir)reverence. Their infamous Rules challenge cycling fans to emulate their heroes in everything from training ('it never gets easier, you just go faster') and equipment ('the correct number of bikes to own is n+1') to sock length and coffee choice. The Rules were published in book form in 2013. Frank Strack, Editor in Chief, spreads the word at bike shows worldwide, and in his column for Cycling magazine.

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.