William Roland Hartston

After reading maths at Jesus College, Cambridge, William Hartston played too much chess to complete his PhD, which led to his twice winning the British Chess Championship. While writing far too many chess books, he worked as an industrial psychologist on the development and interpretation of personality tests. He has also written books about Puzzles, Sloths, Numeracy, Sex, Useless Information, The Things Nobody Knows and - the latest book - Knock, Knock which is a history of humour and the long hunt for a psychological/philosophic theory of humour. He is also an opera critic but still does not know what he wants to be when he grows up.