Jean-Paul Belmondo and Stephen Vizinczey: Non-conformist, great and late at 88

Two men, who found fame in the 1960s – one in film and the other in literature – died in the past month in 2021 at the age of 88: Jean-Paul Belmondo, the French actor known for his portrayal in the 1960 film Breathless, and Stephen Vizinczey, the Hungarian-American author, for his novel In Praise of Older…

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Young Indian Asrar Khan Usmani is a certified animal healer and rescuer

Asrar Khan Usmani is twenty-two years old from Bangalore in India. People call him the Spiderman of Bangalore, or Spiderman of Bommanahalli, because he risks his life, and climbs buildings, to save animals – mainly cats, dogs, birds, and monkeys. ‘When I go up, I don’t think about how to come down,’ he says, because…

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Monsieur Arsène – Paris: French beard and face products

Launched in December 2018 in Paris, France, Monsieur Arsène is a high-quality, ethical range of products dedicated to men’s beard and face maintenance. Laurent, the creator of Chez Monsieur Arsène, aims to offer a sleek, minimalist range, focusing on the luxury of the experience, and not the advertising, nor extensive packaging: a zero-waste goal. Laurent quickly discarded…

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Mad Al Jaffee folds in at 99 years of age

  Al Jaffee is the world’s longest-working comic artist. And he has just retired at the age of 99 years. Al Jaffee worked at the satirical Mad magazine for 65 years, drawing comics and creating the back-page Fold-In. His career at Mad began in 1955 and will end after his June 2020 retirement announcement. Throughout…

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Amartya Kumar Sen, the Argumentative Conscience of Economics

  Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Kumar Sen is well used to arguing his point of view, especially on topics that he is most noted for: welfare economics, social choice, social justice, moral philosophy, decision theory, the well-being of countries, and famines. Amartya Kumar Sen (1933-) is currently a professor at Harvard University and the…

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The man who wrote 1,001 novels: Kovvali Lakshmi Narasimha Rao

Kovvali Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, from Andhra Pradesh in India, wrote about 1,001 novels in his lifetime. He was born in Tanuku in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. In his 63 years, Kovvali Lakshmi Narasimha Rao (1912-1975) was a prolific story-teller, writing in his native Telugu language. His aim was to bring reading to…

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Closed border can’t stop Karsten Hansen expressing his love

German retired farmer Karsten Tüchsen Hansen is 89 years old and his Danish lover, retired caterer Inga Rasmussen, is 85 years old. Ever since they met two years ago in 2018, Karsten and Inga would meet every day, and then the police shut the Mollehusvej border between Germany and Denmark due to the Coronavirus crisis….

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100-year-old Captain Tom is inspirational

During the Coronavirus pandemic, one man has become the hero of heroes. British war veteran Tom Moore is 99 years old—turning 100 on 30 April 2020. He has just raised more than 28 million pounds for the National Health Service (NHS), through NHS Charities Together, to support their efforts during the 2019-2020 Coronavirus emergency. Across…

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Sir Stirling Moss: The Gentleman Racing Driver

British racing driver Sir Stirling Moss passed away on 12 April 2020 at the age of 90. He was described as the best driver in the world in his time, but he never won the Formuala 1 world championship title. He was also described as the Gentleman Driver. Stirling Crauford Moss (1929-2020) won the Targa…

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Rami Malek: from flamboyant Freddy to supervillain Safin

  Rami Malek will play the villain in the next James Bond film, No Time to Die, to be released in November 2020. He will play supervillain Safin. The audience will know Malek from his award-winning role as Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen in the 2018 movie biopic Bohemian Rhapsody….

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Lin-Manuel Miranda: from jingles to Jack

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the American composer, rapper, and actor, is taking a giant leap of faith into a children’s musical about a British nanny – a far cry from the hip hop, pop, rap, show-tune music of the award-winning 2015 Hamilton: An American Musical.  From the history of the founding fathers to the diversity of character…

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