Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby was born in 1957. His father, Sir Derek Hornby, was a successful businessman. Hornby junior went to Maidenhead Grammar School then studied English at Cambridge. After teaching in Cambridge, he worked for the Korean electronics giant Samsung as a meeter and greeter for their executives in the UK.

After that, he worked as a teacher then as a freelance journalist and then became a novelist. His career really took off with the phenomenally successful Fever Pitch in 1992 and he hasn't looked back since. How to be Good made the 2001 Booker long-list.