name	The Times
type	Daily newspaper
format	Compact
price	UK£0.90 (Monday–Friday)£2 (Saturday) £1.30(Sat., Scotland)
foundation	1 January 1785
owners	News Corporation
sister newspapers	''The Sunday Times''
political	Moderate Conservative
headquarters	Wapping, London, UK
editor	James Harding
issn	0140-0460
website	www.thetimes.co.uk
circulation	502,436 March 2010 }}

''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper published in London since 1785, when it was known as ''The Daily Universal Register''.

''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' are published by Times Newspapers Limited, since 1981 a subsidiary of News International. News International is entirely owned by the News Corporation group, headed by Rupert Murdoch. Though traditionally a moderately centre-right newspaper and a supporter of the Conservatives, it supported the Labour Party in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. In 2004, according to MORI, the voting intentions of its readership were 40% for the Conservative Party, 29% for the Liberal Democrats, 26% for Labour.

''The Times'' is the original "Times" newspaper, lending its name to many other papers around the world, such as ''The New York Times'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''The Seattle Times'', ''The Daily Times (Malawi)'', Jimma Times (Ethiopia), ''The Times of India'', ''The Straits Times'', ''Polska The Times'' ''The Times of Malta'' and ''The Irish Times''. For distinguishing purposes it is therefore sometimes referred to, particularly in North America, as the 'London Times' or 'The Times of London'. The paper is also the originator of the ubiquitous Times Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of ''The Times'' in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation for its legibility in low-tech printing.

The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, but switched to compact size in 2004 partly in an attempt to appeal to younger readers and partly to appeal to commuters using public transport. An American edition has been published since 6 June 2006.

Today

The newspaper's cover price in the United Kingdom is £1 on weekdays (30p for students at some university campus shops) and £1.50 on Saturday. ''The Times's'' sister paper, ''The Sunday Times'', is a broadsheet and priced at £2.20. Although ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' are both owned by News International, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, they do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have shared the same owner only since 1967. In November 2006 ''The Times'' began printing headlines in its new font, Times Modern.

History

''The Times'' was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as ''The Daily Universal Register'', with Walter in the role of editor. Walter changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to ''The Times''. In 1803, John Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name. John Walter Sr. had already spent sixteen months in Newgate prison for libel printed in ''The Times'', but his pioneering efforts to obtain Continental news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers.

''The Times'' used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of ''The Times'' were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers.

In 1809, John Stoddart was appointed general editor, replaced in 1817 with Thomas Barnes. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of ''The Times'' rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for ''The Times'' the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.").The increased circulation and influence of the paper was based in part to its early adoption of the steam driven rotary printing press. Distribution via steam trains to rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence.

''The Times'' was the first newspaper to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War, was immensely influential with his dispatches back to England. In other events of the nineteenth century, ''The Times'' opposed the repeal of the Corn Laws until the number of demonstrations convinced the editorial board otherwise, and only reluctantly supported aid to victims of the Irish Potato Famine. It enthusiastically supported the Great Reform Bill of 1832 which reduced corruption and increased the electorate from 400 000 people to 800 000 people (still a small minority of the population). During the American Civil War, ''The Times'' represented the view of the wealthy classes, favouring the secessionists, but it was not a supporter of slavery.

The third John Walter (the founder's grandson) succeeded his father in 1847. The paper continued as more or less independent. From the 1850s, however, ''The Times'' was beginning to suffer from the rise in competition from the penny press, notably ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Morning Post''.

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach ''The Times'' and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.

''The Times'' faced financial extinction in 1890 under Arthur Fraser Walter, but it was rescued by an energetic editor, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell. During his tenure (1890–1911), ''The Times'' became associated with selling the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' using aggressive American marketing methods introduced by Horace Everett Hooper and his advertising executive, Henry Haxton. However, due to legal fights between the ''Britannica's'' two owners, Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson, ''The Times'' severed its connection in 1908 and was bought by pioneering newspaper magnate, Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe.

In editorials published on 29 and 31 July 1914 Wickham Steed, the ''Times'''s Chief Editor argued that the British Empire should enter World War I. On 8 May 1920, under the editorship of Wickham Steed, the ''Times'' in an editorial endorsed the anti-Semitic forgery ''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion'' as a genuine document, and called Jews the world's greatest danger. In the leader entitled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Steed wrote about ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'':

What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?".

The following year, when Philip Graves, the Constantinople (modern Istanbul) correspondent of the ''Times'', exposed ''The Protocols'' as a forgery, the ''Times'' retracted the editorial of the previous year.

In 1922, John Jacob Astor, a son of the 1st Viscount Astor, bought ''The Times'' from the Northcliffe estate. The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement; then-editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with those in the government who practised appeasement, most notably Neville Chamberlain.

Kim Philby, a Soviet double agent, served as a correspondent for the newspaper in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Philby was admired for his courage in obtaining high-quality reporting from the front lines of the bloody conflict. He later joined MI6 during World War II, was promoted into senior positions after the war ended, then eventually defected to the Soviet Union in 1963.

Between 1941 and 1946, the left-wing British historian E.H. Carr was Assistant Editor. Carr was well known for the strongly pro-Soviet tone of his editorials. In December 1944, when fighting broke out in Athens between the Greek Communist ELAS and the British Army, Carr in a ''Times'' editorial sided with the Communists, leading Winston Churchill to condemn him and that leader in a speech to the House of Commons. As a result of Carr's editorial, the ''Times'' became popularly known during World War II as the threepenny ''Daily Worker'' (the price of the ''Daily Worker'' was one penny)

In 1967, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson, and on 3 May 1966 it started printing news on the front page for the first time. (Previously, the paper's front page featured small advertisements, usually of interest to the moneyed classes in British society.) The Thomson Corporation merged it with ''The Sunday Times'' to form Times Newspapers Limited.

An industrial dispute prompted the management to shut the paper for nearly a year (1 December 1978 – 12 November 1979).

The Thomson Corporation management were struggling to run the business due to the 1979 Energy Crisis and union demands. Management were left with no choice but to save both titles by finding a buyer who was in a position to guarantee the survival of both titles, and also one who had the resources and was committed to funding the introduction of modern printing methods.

Several suitors appeared, including Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland and Lord Rothermere; however, only one buyer was in a position to meet the full Thomson remit. That buyer was the Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch

In 1981, ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' were bought from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International. The acquisition followed three weeks of intensive bargaining with the unions by company negotiators, John Collier and Bill O'Neill.

Murdoch soon began making his mark on the paper, replacing its editor, William Rees-Mogg, with Harold Evans in 1981. One of his most important changes was the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. In March–May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print ''The Times'' since the 19th century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photo-composition. This allowed print room staff at ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' to be reduced by half. However, direct input of text by journalists ("single stroke" input) was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, when ''The Times'' moved from New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street) to new offices in Wapping.

In June 1990, ''The Times'' ceased its policy of using courtesy titles ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes for living persons) before full names on first reference, but it continues to use them before surnames on subsequent references. The more formal style is now confined to the "Court and Social" page, though "Ms" is now acceptable in that section, as well as before surnames in news sections.

In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. On 13 September 2004, the weekday broadsheet was withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland. Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format.

The Conservative Party announced plans to launch litigation against ''The Times'' over an incident in which the newspaper claimed that Conservative election strategist Lynton Crosby had admitted that his party would not win the 2005 General Election. ''The Times'' later published a clarification, and the litigation was dropped.

On 6 June 2005, ''The Times'' redesigned its Letters page, dropping the practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. Published letters were long regarded as one of the paper's key constituents. Author/solicitor David Green of Castle Morris Pembrokeshire has had more letters published on the main letters page than any known contributor – 158 by 31 January 2008. According to its leading article, "From Our Own Correspondents", removal of full postal addresses was in order to fit more letters onto the page.

In a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, which was investigating media ownership and the news, Murdoch stated that the law and the independent board prevented him from exercising editorial control.

In May 2008 printing of ''The Times'' switched from Wapping to new plants at Broxbourne on the outskirts of London, and Merseyside and Glasgow, enabling the paper to be produced with full colour on every page for the first time.

Controversy and image

Long considered the UK's newspaper of record, ''The Times'' is generally seen as a serious publication with high standards of journalism. It is not without trenchant critics: Robert Fisk, seven times British International Journalist of the Year, resigned as foreign correspondent in 1988 over what he saw as "political censorship" of his article on the shooting-down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988. He wrote in detail about his reasons for resigning from the paper due to meddling with his stories, and the papers' pro-Israel stance.

Some allege that ''The Times''' partisan opinion pieces also damage its status as 'paper of record,' particularly when attacking interests that go against those of its parent company – News International. In 2010 it published an opinion piece attacking the BBC for being 'one of a group of' signatories to a letter criticising BSkyB share options in October 2010.

Readership profile and image

The British Business Survey 2005 named ''The Times'' as the UK's leading daily newspaper for business people. This independent survey was sponsored by ''The Financial Times'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Economist'', and ''The Times''.

The latest figures from the national readership survey show ''The Times'' to have the highest number of ABC1 25–44 readers and the largest numbers of readers in London of any of the "quality" papers. The certified average circulation figures for November 2005 show that The Times sold 692,581 copies per day. This was the highest achieved under the last editor, Robert Thomson, and ensured that the newspaper remained ahead of ''The Daily Telegraph'' in terms of full-rate sales, although the ''Telegraph'' remains the market leader for broadsheets, with a circulation of 905,955 copies. Tabloid newspapers, such as ''The Sun'' and middle-market newspapers such as the ''Daily Mail'', at present outsell both papers with a circulation of around 3,005,308 and 2,082,352 respectively. By March 2010 the paper's circulation had fallen to 502,436 copies daily and the ''Telegraph's'' to 686,679, according to ABC figures.

Format and supplements

''The Times'' features news for the first half of the paper with the leading articles on the second page, the Opinion/Comment section begins after the first news section, the world news normally follows this. The business pages begin on the centre spread, and are followed by The Register, containing obituaries, Court & Social section, and related material. The sport section is at the end of the main paper.

''Literary Supplement''

''The Times Literary Supplement'' (TLS) is a separately-paid-for weekly literature and society magazine.

''Science Reviews''

Between 1951 and 1966 ''The Times'' published a separately-paid-for quarterly science review, ''The Times Science Review''. Remarkably, in 1953 both the newspaper and its science supplement failed to report on the discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge, which was reported on by both the ''News Chronicle'' and ''The New York Times''.

''The Times'' started another new (but free) monthly science magazine, ''Eureka'', in October 2009.

''Times2''

''The Times'''s main supplement was the ''times2'', featuring various lifestyle columns. It was discontinued on 1 March 2010, most of its regular features being absorbed into the main paper, the puzzles into a new supplement called ''Mind Games''. Its previous incarnation began on 5 September 2005, before which it was called ''T2'' and previously ''Times 2''. Regular features included columns by a different columnist each weekday. There was a column by Marcus du Sautoy each Wednesday, for example. The back pages were devoted to puzzles and contain sudoku, "Killer Sudoku", "KenKen", word polygon puzzles, and a crossword simpler and more concise than the main "Times Crossword". The penultimate page was "Young Times", with puzzles and news for children. All these features are now found in ''Mind Games''.

The supplement also contained arts and lifestyle features, TV and radio listings and reviews which have now become their own weekly supplements.

''The Game''

''The Game'' is included in the newspaper on a Monday, and details all the weekend's football activity (Premier League and Football League Championship, League One and League Two.) The Scottish edition of ''The Game'' also includes results and analysis from Scottish Premier League games.

Saturday supplements

The Saturday edition of ''The Times'' contains a variety of supplements. These supplements were relaunched in January 2009 as: ''Sport'', ''Weekend'' (including travel and lifestyle features), ''Saturday Review'' (arts, books, and ideas), ''The Times Magazine'' (columns on various topics), and ''Playlist'' (an entertainment listings guide).

''Saturday Review'' is the first regular supplement published in broadsheet format again since the paper switched to a compact size in 2004.

At the beginning of Summer 2011 ''Saturday Review'' switched to the tabloid format

''The Times Magazine'' features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Giles Coren, Food And Drink Writer of the Year in 2005.

Online presence

The ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' have had an online presence since March 1999, originally at ''the-times.co.uk'' and ''sunday-times.co.uk'', and later at ''timesonline.co.uk''. In April 2009, the ''timesonline'' site had a readership of 750,000 readers per day.

Paywall

Rupert Murdoch argued that readers should pay for online content, and since July 2010, News International requires readers that do not already subscribe to the print edition to pay £1 per day or £2 per week to access ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' content.

There are now two websites, instead of one: ''thetimes.co.uk'' is aimed at daily readers, and the ''thesundaytimes.co.uk'' site at providing weekly magazine-like content.

According to figures released in November 2010 by ''The Times'', 100,000 people had paid to use the service in its first four months of operation, and another 100,000 received free access because they subscribe to the printed paper. Visits to the websites have decreased by 87% since the paywall was introduced, from 21 million unique users per month to 2.7 million.

Typeface

''The Times'' commissioned the serif typeface ''Times New Roman'', created by Victor Lardent at the English branch of Monotype, in 1931. It was commissioned after Stanley Morison had written an article criticizing ''The Times'' for being badly printed and typographically antiquated. The font was supervised by Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of ''The Times''. Morison used an older font named Plantin as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space. ''Times New Roman'' made its debut in the 3 October 1932 issue of ''The Times'' newspaper. After one year, the design was released for commercial sale. ''The Times'' stayed with ''Times New Roman'' for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused the newspaper to switch font five times since 1972. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman font:

''Times Europa'' was designed by Walter Tracy in 1972 for The Times, as a sturdier alternative to the Times font family, designed for the demands of faster printing presses and cheaper paper. The typeface features more open counter spaces.

''Times Roman'' replaced Times Europa on 30 August 1982. ''Times Millennium'' was made in 1991, drawn by Gunnlaugur Briem on the instructions of Aurobind Patel, composing manager of News International. ''Times Classic'' first appeared in 2001. Designed as an economical face by the British type team of Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, it took advantage of the new PC-based publishing system at the newspaper, while obviating the production shortcomings of its predecessor Times Millennium. The new typeface included 120 letters per font. Initially the family comprised ten fonts, but a condensed version was added in 2004. ''Times Modern'' was unveiled on 20 November 2006, as the successor of ''Times Classic''. Designed for improving legibility in smaller font sizes, it uses 45-degree angled bracket serifs. The font was published by Elsner + Flake as ''EF Times Modern''; it was designed by Research Studios, led by Ben Preston (deputy editor of The Times) and designer Neville Brody.

Sponsored events

''The Times'', along with the British Film Institute, sponsors the London Film Festival (or more specifically, The Times ''bfi'' London Film Festival). As of 2005, it is Europe's largest public event for motion pictures.

''The Times'' also sponsors the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House, London.

Political allegiance

''The Times'' was a traditional Conservative Party supporter, even after its 18-year rule in government was ended by the Labour landslide of 1997, but for the 2001 general election the paper declared its support for Tony Blair's Labour government, which was re-elected by a landslide. It supported Labour again in 2005, when it achieved a third successive election win, though with a reduced majority. For the 2010 general election, however, the newspaper declared its support for the Tories once again; the election ended in the Tories taking the most votes and seats but having to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to form a government as they had failed to gain an overall majority.

The Times had declared its support for Clement Attlee's Labour at the 1945 general election; the party went on to win the election by a landslide over Winston Churchill's Conservative government. However, the newspaper reverted to the Tories for the next election five years later. It would not switch sides again for more than 50 years.

Ownership

John Walter (1785–1803)

John Walter, 2nd (1803–1847)

John Walter, 3rd (1847–1894)

Arthur Fraser Walter (1894–1908)

Lord Northcliffe (1908–1922)

Astor family (1922–1966)

Roy Thomson (1966–1981)

News International (subsidiary of News Corporation), run by Rupert Murdoch (1981– )

Editorship

!Editor's name	!Years
	1785–1803
	1803–1812
John Stoddart	1812–1816
	1817–1841
John Delane	1841–1877
Thomas Chenery	1877–1884
George Earle Buckle	1884–1912
George Geoffrey Dawson	1912–1919
	1919–1922
George Geoffrey Dawson	1923–1941
Robert McGowan Barrington-Ward	1941–1948
William Francis Casey	1948–1952
William Haley	1952–1966
William Rees-Mogg	1967–1981
Harold Evans	1981–1982
	1982–1985
	1985–1990
Simon Jenkins	1990–1992
Peter Stothard	1992–2002
	2002–2007
	2007–

Columnists and journalists

Murad Ahmed

Michael Atherton

Guillem Balague

Simon Barnes

Alice Bowe

Peter Brookes, leader-page cartoonist

David Brown

Kaya Burgess

Rachel Campbell-Johnston

Sam Coates

Giles Coren

Robert Crampton

Ginny Dougary

Stephen Farrell

Daniel Finkelstein

Richard Ford

Adam Fresco

Joanna Geary

Frances Gibb

Brian Glanville

Ruth Gledhill

Michael Gove

Nico Hines

Anthony Howard

Philip Howard

Ben Hoyle

Mick Hume

Anatole Kaletsky

Patrick Kidd

Magnus Linklater

Richard Lloyd Parry

Anthony Loyd, war correspondent on retainer

Ben Macintyre

Sam Marlowe, theatre reviewer

Stefanie Marsh

Hugh McIlvanney

Alice Miles

Caitlin Moran

Michael Moran

Morten Morland, political cartoonist

Richard Morrison

Kate Muir

Matthew Parris

Grayson Perry

Catherine Philp

Libby Purves

Lord Rees-Mogg

Peter Riddell

Hugo Rifkind

Aki Riihilahti

Nick Robinson

Alyson Rudd

Dan Sabbagh

Sathnam Sanghera

Marcus du Sautoy

David Sinclair

Graham Stewart

Andrew Sullivan

Richard Susskind

Ann Treneman

Janice Turner

Philip Webster

Tom Whipple

Tom Whitwell

Tony Halpin

Alexander Williams, cartoonist

Jeremy Clarkson

Other publications

(Times Books Group Ltd)

The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 2007 ISBN 978-0-00-780150-3

Biography

Harold Evans, ''Good Times, Bad Times''. Includes sections of black-and-white photographic plates, plus a few charts and diagrams in text pages.

In fiction

In the dystopian future world of George Orwell's ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', ''The Times'' has been transformed into the organ of the totalitarian ruling party, its editorials—of which several are quoted in the book—reflecting Big Brother's pronouncements.

Rex Stout's fictional detective Nero Wolfe is described as fond of solving the London ''Times'' crossword puzzle at his New York home, in preference to those of American papers.

In the James Bond series, written by Ian Fleming, the title character, James Bond, reads ''The Times''. As described by Fleming in ''From Russia, with Love'': "The Times was the only paper that Bond ever read."

See also

List of newspapers by date

References

External links

The Sunday Times site

Times World Atlases official website including a History and Heritage section detailing landmark Times atlases

Archive from 1785 to 1985 – full text and original layout, searchable (not free of charge, registration required)

The Times editor Robert Thomson lecture online: From the editorial desk of ''The Times'', RMIT School of Applied Communication Public Lecture series

Anthony Trollope's satire on the mid-nineteenth century Times

Journalism Now: The Times Winchester University Journalism History project on the Times in the nineteenth century

Category:Newspapers published in the United Kingdom Category:News Corporation subsidiaries * Category:Publications established in 1785 Category:1785 establishments in Great Britain

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{{infobox writer | name

Alexander McCall Smith | image AlexanderMcCallSmith.jpg | imagesize | caption | pseudonym | birth_date August 24, 1948 | birth_place Bulawayo, Rhodesia | death_date | death_place | occupation | nationality Scottish |citizenship United Kingdom | period | genre Fiction, Crime fiction, Children's books | subject | movement | debut_works | influences W. H. Auden, R. K. Narayan, E. F. Benson | influenced | signature | website http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/ | footnotes }}

Alexander (R.A.A.) "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, (born 24 August 1948) is a Rhodesian-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees concerned with these issues. He has since become internationally known as a writer of fiction. He is most widely known as the creator of the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Biography

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Bulawayo, in what was then Southern Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. His father worked as a public prosecutor in what was then a British colony. He was educated at the Christian Brothers College before moving to Scotland to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he received his Ph.D. in law.

He soon taught at Queen's University Belfast, and while teaching there he entered a literary competition: one a children's book and the other a novel for adults. He won in the children's category, and published thirty books in the 1980s and 1990s.

He returned to southern Africa in 1981 to help co-found and teach law at the University of Botswana. While there, he cowrote what remains the only book on the country's legal system, ''The Criminal Law of Botswana'' (1992).

He returned in 1984 to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he lives today with his wife, Elizabeth, a physician, and their two daughters Lucy and Emily. He was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh at one time and is now Emeritus Professor at its School of Law. He retains a further involvement with the University in relation to the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

He is the former chairman of the British Medical Journal Ethics Committee (until 2002), the former vice-chairman of the Human Genetics Commission of the United Kingdom, and a former member of the International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO. After achieving success as a writer, he gave up these commitments.

He was appointed a CBE in the December 2006 New Year's Honours List for services to literature. In June 2007, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws at a ceremony celebrating the tercentenary of the University of Edinburgh School of Law.

He is an amateur bassoonist, and co-founder of The Really Terrible Orchestra. He has helped to found Botswana's first centre for opera training, the Number 1 Ladies' Opera House, for whom he wrote the libretto of their first production, a version of Macbeth set among a troop of baboons in the Okavango Delta. He is also the author of a testimonial in ''The Future of the NHS'' (2006). His use of the serial format, in his Edinburgh and Pimlico novels, has revived the 19th-century format used by authors including Charles Dickens and Armistead Maupin.

In 2009, he donated the short story ''Still Life'' to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project - four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. McCall Smith's story was published in the 'Air' collection.

Former American First Lady Laura Bush is a big fan of Smith's, as is Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Bibliography

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series

1998 ''The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency''

2000 ''Tears of the Giraffe''

2001 ''Morality for Beautiful Girls''

2002 ''The Kalahari Typing School for Men''

2003 ''The Full Cupboard of Life''

2004 ''In the Company of Cheerful Ladies'' (also known as ''The Night-Time Dancer''.)

2006 ''Blue Shoes and Happiness''

2007 ''The Good Husband of Zebra Drive''

2008 ''The Miracle at Speedy Motors''

2009 ''Tea Time for the Traditionally Built''

2010 ''The Double Comfort Safari Club''

2010 ''Precious and the Puggies'' (novella for younger readers, first published in a Scots translation by James Robertson.) Reissued in English as ''Precious and the Monkeys'' 2011.

2011 ''The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party''

The 2½ Pillars of Wisdom

also known as Professor Dr Von Igelfeld Entertainment Novels

2003 ''Portuguese Irregular Verbs''

2003 ''The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs''

2003 ''At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances''

2011 ''Unusual Uses for Olive Oil (publishing December 2011)''

The Sunday Philosophy Club Series

also known as Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries

2004 ''The Sunday Philosophy Club''

2005 ''Friends, Lovers, Chocolate''

2006 ''The Right Attitude to Rain''

2007 ''The Careful Use of Compliments''

2008 ''The Comfort of Saturdays'' (UK title) or ''The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday'' (American title)''

2009: ''The Lost Art of Gratitude''

2010: ''The Charming Quirks of Others''

2011: ''The Forgotten Affairs of Youth (publishing December 2011)''

44 Scotland Street Series

2005 ''44 Scotland Street''

2005 ''Espresso Tales''

2006 ''Love Over Scotland''

2007 ''The World According to Bertie''

2008 ''The Unbearable Lightness of Scones''

2010 ''The Importance of Being Seven''

2011 ''Bertie Plays The Blues''

Corduroy Mansions

2009 ''Corduroy Mansions''

2009 ''The Dog Who Came in from the Cold'' (published online daily in serial form at ; also published as a hard cover book on 1 May 2010).

2011 ''A Conspiracy of Friends (published May 2011)''

Other novels

2008 ''La's Orchestra Saves the World''

Short story collections

1991 ''Children of Wax: African Folk Tales''

1995 ''Heavenly Date: And Other Flirtations''

2004 ''The Girl Who Married a Lion: And Other Tales from Africa''

Children's books

1980 ''The White Hippo''

1984 ''The Perfect Hamburger''

1988 ''Alix and the Tigers''

1990 ''The Tin Dog''

1991 ''Calculator Annie''

1991 ''The Popcorn Pirates''

1992 ''Akimbo and the Lions''

1992 ''The Doughnut Ring''

1993 ''Akimbo and the Crocodile Man''

1994 ''Paddy and the Ratcatcher''

1995 ''The Muscle Machine''

1996 ''The Bubblegum Tree''

1997 ''Bursting Balloons Mystery''

1997 ''The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean''

1999 ''Chocolate Money Mystery''

2000 ''Teacher Trouble''

2005 ''Akimbo and the Elephants''

2006 ''Dream Angus''

2006 ''Akimbo and the Snakes''

2008 ''Akimbo and the Baboons''

2012 ''The Great Cake Mystery''

Academic texts

1978 ''Power and Manoeuvrability'' (with Tony Carty)

1983 ''Law and Medical Ethics'' (with J Kenyon Mason) (this text has gone through several editions: a seventh, by Mason and Graeme Laurie, was published in 2006. McCall Smith contributed to all six previous editions.)

1987 ''Butterworths Medico-Legal Encyclopaedia'' (with J Kenyon Mason)

1990 ''Family Rights: Family Law and Medical Advances'' (with Elaine Sutherland)

1992 ''The Criminal Law of Botswana'' (with Kwame Frimpong)

1993 ''The Duty to Rescue'' (with Michael Menlowe, 1993)

1992 ''Scots Criminal Law'' (with David H Sheldon, second edition published 1997)

1997 ''Forensic Aspects of Sleep'' (with Colin Shapiro)

2000 ''Justice and the Prosecution of Old Crimes'' (with Daniel W Shuman)

2001 ''Errors, Medicine and the Law'' (with Alan Merry)

2003 ''A Draft Criminal Code for Scotland'' (with Eric Clive, Pamela Ferguson and Christopher Gane)

2004 ''Creating Humans: Ethical questions where reproduction and science collide'' (collected lectures, audio recordings)

See also

White people in Zimbabwe

References

External links

Professor Alexander McCall Smith's home page at the Law School, University of Edinburgh

Author's home page at publishers Polygon & Birlinn Limited

Alexander McCall Smith interviewed on ''Conversations from Penn State''

''Write TV'' Public Television Interview with Alexander McCall Smith

The author introduces Corduroy Mansions at publishers Polygon & Birlinn Limited

Author's homepage at UK publishers Little, Brown

Author's homepage at publishers Random House

Alexander McCall Smith's profile page at publishers Polygon

(British Council)

Powell's City of Books, 6 May 2004">Interview with the author at Powell's City of Books, 6 May 2004

The Scotsman podcasts: Alexander McCall Smith reads from the ''Scotland Street'' series.

The Lives of the Scottish Saints, a short story by Alexander McCall Smith on Scottish Book Trust website

Corduroy Mansions @ Telegraph.co.uk, Alexander McCall Smith is writing his first ever online novel exclusively for Telegraph.co.uk.

Alexander McCall Smith: The No1 Novelist's Guide to Edinburgh, Charlotte Philby, The Independent, 19 June 2010

www.okavangomacbeth.com - The Okavango Macbeth, More Information

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:People from Bulawayo Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh Category:Bioethics Category:British Book Award winners Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Medical law Category:People associated with Edinburgh Category:Rhodesian people Category:Scottish children's writers Category:Scottish crime fiction writers Category:Scottish legal scholars Category:Scottish novelists Category:Scottish short story writers Category:Zimbabwean children's writers Category:Zimbabwean novelists Category:Zimbabwean short story writers Category:Zimbabwean people of Scottish descent Category:British people of Zimbabwean descent Category:Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom

cs:Alexander McCall Smith de:Alexander McCall Smith es:Alexander McCall Smith fr:Alexander McCall Smith is:Alexander McCall Smith it:Alexander McCall Smith he:אלכסנדר מק'קול סמית nl:Alexander McCall Smith no:Alexander McCall Smith nn:Alexander McCall Smith pl:Alexander McCall Smith ro:Alexander McCall Smith fi:Alexander McCall Smith sv:Alexander McCall Smith tr:Alexander McCall Smith

Name	'Chris Ryan'
Birth place	Rowlands Gill, England
Allegiance
Serviceyears	1978–1994
Rank	Sergeant
Branch
Unit	Special Air Service
Battles	Gulf War
Awards	Military Medal
Laterwork	Author, Security Consultant. }}

Sergeant ‘Chris Ryan’ MM (born 1961, Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear) is the pseudonym of a former British Special Forces operative and soldier turned novelist. Ryan came to public prominence for being the only member of the eight-man SAS mission, Bravo Two Zero to escape, during the First Gulf War, 1991.

He has subsequently written a number of books, including ''The One That Got Away'', and "One Good Turn", a specially commissioned story for the Quick Reads Initiative, aimed at improving adult literacy. 'The One that Got Away' has since been heavily criticised by Trooper Mike Coburn and Sergeant Andy McNab, two of the surviving members of the patrol, particularly in relation to its negative portrayal of Sergeant Vince Phillips, who died of hypothermia during the patrol's attempted escape.

Background

Ryan was born in Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, North East England in 1961. After attending Hookergate secondary school he enrolled into the army as a boy soldier at 16. His Cousin, Billy, was in the 23rd SAS Reserves, and he invited Ryan to come up and ''"see what it's like to be in the army"''. Ryan ended up doing this nearly every weekend, almost passing selection several times, but he was too young to continue selection and do 'test week'. Eventually he became old enough and passed selection into the 23rd SAS. Shortly afterwards he began selection for the Regular 22 Regiment, and after passing he joined 'B' squadron and trained as a medic. Needing a parent regiment, he, along with another soldier who had joined the SAS from the Royal Navy, spent eight weeks with the Parachute Regiment before returning to 'B' Squadron. He then spent seven years carrying out both covert and overt operations with the SAS in various theatres of the world.

Ryan's travels included southeast Asia, training Khmer Rouge troops to attack Vietnamese forces that had pushed them out of Cambodia. As journalist John Pilger wrote, "Incredibly, the Thatcher government had continued to support the defunct Pol Pot regime in the United Nations and even sent the SAS to train his exiled troops in camps in Thailand and Malaysia. In March, the former SAS soldier Chris Ryan, now a best-selling author, lamented in a newspaper interview 'when John Pilger, the foreign correspondent, discovered we were training the Khmer Rouge in the Far east [we] were sent home and I had to return the £10,000 we’d been given for food and accommodation.'"

Bravo Two Zero

Ryan was a team member of the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero patrol in Iraq, during the First Gulf War. The patrol was to ''"gather intelligence;... find a good LUP (lying up position) and set up an OP"'' on the main supply route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq, and eventually take out the Scud Missile Launchers, but they were compromised and subsequently headed towards Syria on foot.

Ryan made SAS history with the "longest escape and evasion by an SAS trooper or any other soldier", covering more than SAS trooper, Jack Sillito, had in the Sahara Desert in 1942. Ryan completed a tab from an Observation point in the Iraq Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq to the Syrian Border.

During his escape, Ryan received injuries from drinking water that was contaminated with nuclear waste. Along with suffering severe muscle atrophy he lost a potentially fatal and subsequently did not return to front line operational duties. Instead, he selected and trained potential recruits, eventually being honourably discharged from the SAS in 1994.

Zaire

Chris Ryan was also a member of a small SAS team sent to protect the British Embassy in the troubled African nation of Zaire. Whilst there, the SAS were tasked with ensuring that all British diplomatic staff were safely evacuated from the country during the troubling period before the First Congo War. This operation was meant to last 3 days but ended up lasting a month.

Post-SAS work

Since leaving the SAS in 1994, Ryan has written several books. Such as; ''The One That Got Away'', his non-fiction account of the Bravo Two Zero mission, including fictional best-sellers such as ''Strike Back (2007)'', which was adapted into a TV show, and ''Firefight (September 2008)''. He has also written fictional books for teenage readers, such as the Alpha Force Series, and "Code Red". Chris combines successfully writing his best-selling books, along with security lectures and presenting television documentaries including ''Hunting Chris Ryan''.

In 2005, Ryan presented a Sky One show called ''How Not to Die'', detailing how not to die in various life-threatening situations, including violent burglary, mugging, and violent attacks. It was described as "One of the most thought provoking programs of its time", by Chris Thompson in 2006. He acted as the military advisor on the video game I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike, helping to make the game more accurate to real-life military operations, tactics, weapons and equipment. Ryan both co-created, and starred in the TV show ''Ultimate Force'', was a military, technical advisor and played the role of Blue Troop leader Johnny Bell in series 1. He trained and managed a six-man team to represent Team GB at Sure for Men's Extreme Pamplona Chase in Spain, and starred in ''Hunting Chris Ryan'' with the BBC which later aired on the Military Channel as 'Special Forces Manhunt'. Ryan produced several programmes titled ''Terror Alert: Could You Survive'', in each programme he demonstrated how to survive disasters including, flooding, nuclear terrorist attack, mass blackouts, and plane hi-jacking.

He was featured in the Derren Brown Series, Mind Control episode 3 in which Ryan had to booby-trap a course for Derren to follow whilst blind folded.

He lectures in business motivation, and is currently a bodyguard in the USA. In 2009 Ryan starred in "Elite World Cops" aired on Bravo. In the show, Ryan spends time with various law enforcement agencies around the world, giving him an insight to the war on terrorism and drug trade but from a law enforcement perspective.

Ryan has a new program currently showing on Bravo called Armed and Dangerous.

He has written a romantic novel, ''The Fisherman's Daughter'', under the pseudonym Molly Jackson.

Books

Ryan has written the following books:

Non-Fiction

''The One That Got Away'' (1995)

''Chris Ryan's SAS Fitness Book''

''Chris Ryan's Ultimate Survival Guide''

''Chris Ryan fight to win'' (2009)

Fiction

Geordie Sharp (character)

''Stand By, Stand By'' (1996)

''Zero Option'' (1997)''

''The Kremlin Device'' (1998)

''Tenth Man Down'' (1999)

Matt Browning (character)

''Greed'' (2003)

''The Increment'' (2004)

Other

''The Hit List'' (2000)

''The Watchman'' (2001)

''Land Of Fire'' (2002)

''Blackout'' (2005)

''Ultimate Weapon'' (2006)

''Strike Back'' (2007)

''Firefight'' (2008)

''Who Dares Wins'' (2009)

''The Kill Zone''' (2010)

''Agent 21'' (2011)

''Medal of Honor'' (2011)

Code Red

''Flash Flood'' (2006)

''Wildfire'' (2007)

''Outbreak'' (2007)

''Vortex'' (2008)

''Twister'' (2008)

''Battleground'' (2009)

Alpha Force

''Alpha Force 1: Survival'' (2002)

''Alpha Force 2: Rat-catcher'' (2002)

''Alpha Force 3: Desert Pursuit'' (2003)

''Alpha Force 4: Hostage'' (2003)

''Alpha Force 5: Red Centre'' (2004)

''Alpha Force 6: Hunted'' (2004)

''Alpha Force 7: Blood Money'' (2005)

''Alpha Force 8: Fault Line'' (2005)

''Alpha Force 9: Black Gold'' (2005)

''Alpha Force 10: Untouchable'' (2005)

Quick Reads

''One Good Turn'' (2008)

References

External links

Official Website

Chris Ryan's Elite Police DVD release

List of books

Chris Ryan audio interview, November 2008 with Scottish Book Trust

Chris Ryan's Strike Back on Sky 1

Chris Ryan's Strike Back Video Trailer

Category:Special Air Service soldiers Category:Recipients of the Military Medal Category:British novelists Category:British non-fiction writers Category:Espionage historians Category:British Army personnel of the Gulf War Category:British Parachute Regiment soldiers Category:People from Rowlands Gill Category:1961 births Category:Living people

ca:Chris Ryan es:Chris Ryan fr:Chris Ryan it:Chris Ryan hu:Chris Ryan nl:Chris Ryan sl:Chris Ryan fi:Chis Ryan sv:Chris Ryan