Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester, OBE (born September 28, 1944), is a British author and journalist who lives in the United States and Scotland.

Winchester studied geology at St Catherine's College, Oxford before working in Africa and on offshore oil rigs. He then spent a twenty-year career as a foreign correspondent for "The Guardian", winning several awards. While at "The Guardian", he was a witness to the events of Bloody Sunday [Coogan, Tim Pat. "The Troubles" pg.136] . He has more recently written for such publications as "Condé Nast Traveler", "Smithsonian Magazine", and "National Geographic" and book reviews for "The New York Times". He lives on a small farm in Massachusetts, as well as in the Western Isles of Scotland.Before his success in book writing he was notable for being a journalist held captive by the Argentinian forces in the Falkland Islands. In the BBC television drama about the invasion, "An Ungentlemanly Act", he was played by Paul Geoffrey. Winchester has traveled widely around the world.

Winchester's most recent book is "Bomb, Book & Compass" (2008) about the British biochemist and Chinese scholar Joseph Needham.__NOTOC__

Bibliography

*2008 - "Bomb, Book & Compass" — the life of Joseph Needham (title of the American edition: "The Man Who Loved China")
*2005 - "" — the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
*2004 - "Simon Winchester's Calcutta" (a collection of writings about the Indian city, edited with son Rupert)
*2003 - "" — the 27 August 1883 eruption of Krakatoa
*2003 - "The Meaning of Everything" — the making of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
*2001 - "" — the work of geologist William Smith
*1999 - "The Fracture Zone: A Return To The Balkans"
*1998 - "" (Published in the US as "The Professor and the Madman")
*1996 - "" — the Yangtze
*1995 - "Small World: A Global Photographic Project, 1987-94" (by Martin Parr and Simon Winchester)
*1992 - "Pacific Nightmare: How Japan Starts World War III : A Future History" (novel)
*1992 - "Hong Kong: Here Be Dragons" (by Rich Browne, James Marshall and Simon Winchester)
*1991 - "Pacific Rising: The Emergence of a New World Culture"
*1988 - "" — Korea
*1985 - "" (also known as "The Sun Never Sets")
*1984 - "Their Noble Lordships: Class and Power in Modern Britain"
*1983 - "Prison Diary: Argentina"
*1983 - "Stones of Empire: Buildings of the Raj" (by Jan Morris with photographs by Simon Winchester)
*1976 - "American Heartbeat"
*1975 - "In Holy Terror"

Honours

Winchester was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for "services to journalism and literature" in Queen Elizabeth II's New Year Honours list of 2006.

ee also

*1906 San Francisco Earthquake
*Krakatoa
*James Murray (lexicographer)
*Oxford English Dictionary
*William Chester Minor

References

External links

* [http://www.simonwinchester.com/ Simon Winchester] — From Harper Collins Publishers.
* [http://www.powells.com/authors/winchester.html Powells.com Interview with Simon Winchester] .
* [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth02C22K543212627027 Simon Winchester] — From the Contemporary Writers website, British Council Arts.
* [http://www.sjsu.edu/cwmfa/simonwinchester/ Simon Winchester : Annotated Bibliography] — Comprehensive bibliography of articles, essays, and all of Winchester's books.
* [http://www.themonthly.com.au/tm/node/1235 Video: Simon Winchester on Joseph Needham and Bomb, Book and Compass] on SlowTV