Sunday 15 October

We had a long discussion about the comparative merits of Mr. Darcy and Mark Darcy, both agreeing that Mr. Darcy was more attractive because he was ruder but that being imaginary was a disadvantage that could not be overlooked.

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Colin Firth (Tuesday 24 October)
You had bloody well better know who Colin Firth is! Hmph.

Kathleen Tynan (Sunday 2 April)
Oxford-educated writer of novels, biography, and screenplays. Wife of British theater and film critic Kenneth Tynan. Best known for her biography of her husband. Sigh. Born Canada, 1937; died London, 1995. Obituary: New York Times January 11, 1995, page B8. Contemporary Authors made no mention of inner poise.

Julian Barnes (Tuesday 18 April)
International award-winning novelist and literary critic. Works include Flaubert's Parrot, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, The Porcupine, Letters from London, and England, England. Born England, 1946.

Tina Brown (Tuesday 18 April)
Writer, journalist, and editor. Columnist for Punch in the 1970s. Editor-in-chief of Tatler 1979-1983. Editor of Vanity Fair 1984-1992. Editor of The New Yorker 1992-1999. Recently seen amidst Disney-owned Miramax movie previews hyping her new project, Talk. Easy to find fairly snarky references to her, such as in a Boston Phoenix review of her biography. Born England, 1953.

Anne and Nick (Sunday 2 April)
Anne Diamond and Nick Owen, presenters from Good Morning Britain, a popular show in the 1980s, were reunited in the 1990s for Good Morning with Anne and Nick, a short-lived BBC morning show bomb.

"Katie Bloody Boyle" (Sunday 2 April)
Wow, what hasn't this woman done? Radio, television, agony columns, and animal activism. I'm lost in Europop cultural references here, so will just refer you to her bio.

Actually, Ms. Boyle is a great example of my occasional confusion with Bridget Jones's Diary: references are casually tossed around like so much "party on" and "not!" and I can tell that I really should know who these people are, except I don't remotely know who they are. V confusing. Which is why I wrote this in the first place. Hurrah!

Marco Pierre White
Slightly scandalous but revered English chef, known for "imaginative food" and "gastronomic hooliganism," as well as for tabloid-caliber antics (from Cigar Aficionado review). Youngest chef to win three stars from the Michelin Guide.

Harold Pinter (Sunday 1 October)
Playwright, director, actor, poet, and political activist. Born East London, 1930.

Created by Beth Watkins, September 2001. All quotes from Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary (London: Picador, 1996) unless otherwise noted.