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Ben Schott is a British writer and author of the "Schott's Miscellanies" and "Schott's Almanac" series. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Schott's Miscellanies are a trio of best-selling books by Ben Schott. Schott's Almanac is a best-selling UK reference book published annually in the United Kingdom.

Ben Schott was born in North London, England on May 26 1974, the son of a neurologist and a nurse. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. He has one brother, also now a neurologist. He went to school at University College School, Hampstead – both the junior school in Holly Hill and the senior school in Frognal. The Gower' redirects here - for the geographical area of that name see Gower peninsula University College School', known generally as UCS Hampstead is an area of London, England, located north-west of Charing Cross. Frognal is a place in London in the London Borough of Camden between Hampstead and West Hampstead.

Contents

University

Schott went to Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read Social and Political Sciences. Gonville and Caius College Cambridge is a constituent College of Cambridge University, one of the world's most academically respected institutions At Cambridge he was a regular photographer for the university student newspaper Varsity (Cambridge). Varsity is the older of Cambridge University 's main student Newspapers ( The Cambridge Student being the other He played college hockey, cricket, and croquet – though not to a very high standard. Hockey is any of a family of Sports in which two teams compete by trying to maneuver a Ball, or a hard round rubber or heavy plastic disc called a puck Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries Croquet is a Game played both as a recreational Pastime and as a competitive Sport which involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through He was also a member of a number of dining societies, as well as being secretary of the Shakespeare Society – one of the oldest undergraduate societies in Cambridge. William Shakespeare ( baptised He took a double First in 1996[1]. The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for Undergraduate degrees ( Bachelor's degrees and some Master's degrees Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar)

Advertising

After Cambridge, Schott got a job at the London advertising agency J. Walter Thompson where he was as an account manager on the Nestlé Rowntree account – working on Smarties, Kit Kat, and Polo. JWT is the current name of the United States largest and world's fourth largest Advertising agency. Rowntree's is a historic brand currently owned by Nestlé SA that is used to market a range of fruit gums and pastilles formerly owned by Rowntree Mackintosh Blue smartiesJPG|thumb|UK blue Smarties old and new]] Nestlé Smarties are a colourful sugar-coated Chocolate Confectionery popular in Europe and the A Kit Kat bar or KitKat bar is a confection which was first created by Rowntree Limited of York, England, and now Polo is a brand of different flavour Sweets which have a hole in the centre After only four months he resigned to become a freelance photographer. A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer A photographer is a person who takes a Photograph using a Camera.

Photography

Schott worked as a photographer from 1996–2003, specialising in portraits of politicians and celebrities. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. He was commissioned by a range of editorial and commercial clients, including The Independent, The Sunday Times, Sunday Business, Reader’s Digest, and the Institute of Directors. The Independent is a British compact Newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly 's Independent News & Media. The Sunday Times is a Sunday Broadsheet Newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Sunday Business was a national Sunday Broadsheet financial newspaper published in the United Kingdom which ran from 1996 to 2006 when it was turned into a magazine Reader's Digest is a monthly general-interest family Magazine co-founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace. The Institute of Directors (IoD is a UK -based organisation incorporated by Royal charter in 1903 to support represent and set standards for company directors A profile in The Times said "his subjects included John Prescott, who was rude, and Sir Roy Strong, who had “the most wonderful, doleful eyes” and told him: “You must realise I’m awfully photogenic. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. John Leslie Prescott (born 31 May 1938 is a British Labour Party Politician, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Sir Roy Colin Strong (born 23 August 1935) is an English Art historian, museum curator writer broadcaster and landscape designer ” Tony Blair asked Schott if he’d like to see then-baby Leo; Cherie barked at him not to take too long as they were about to have lunch. Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953 is a British Politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953 is a British Politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to Cherie Blair (born 23 September 1954 known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is an English Barrister. ” [2]. His photographic portfolio is online. [3]

Schott's Miscellanies

As The Guardian wrote of Schott’s Original Miscellany, the first of Schott's three Miscellanies titles, “the idea for the book came from home-made Christmas cards that Schott sent to friends. The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Schott's Miscellanies are a trio of best-selling books by Ben Schott. They were no ordinary cards, but consisted of little booklets containing all of the essential information he supposed that one needed to get through life, but could never find”[4]. Schott typeset the book himself and had 50 copies privately printed by the Pear Tree Press in Stevenage. After sending copies out to his friends, he sent one to the CEO of Bloomsbury, Nigel Newton. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is an independent London -based publishing house known for literary Novels It was named Publisher of the Year in 1999 and Nigel Newton is the founder and Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, one of the largest publishing companies in the United Kingdom As Newton told the Boston Globe, “I was completely bowled over when it arrived on my desk. The Boston Globe (and Boston Sunday Globe) is the most widely circulated daily Newspaper in Boston and in New England, It was a work of striking originality, and it was remarkable to receive an unsolicited submission like this in the mail. I immediately passed it to one of our editors, who signed it up. ”[5]

Schott’s Original Miscellany was published with little fanfare, but an article by Stuart Jeffries on the front page of the Guardian’s G2 section on 6 December 2006 changed everything. Describing the book as the “publishing sensation of the year", the article said that “Schott has hit the list motherlode”. Sales raced up, and within weeks Schott’s Original Miscellany was at No. 1. Robert McCrum said of the book in The Observer: “Originality is like charisma. Robert McCrum is a British writer and editor He served as literary editor of The Observer for more than ten years The Observer is a British Newspaper published on Sundays In about the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The It's hard to define, but we know it when we find it . . . Schott's Original Miscellany is without doubt the oddest, and possibly merriest, title you will come across in a long day's march through the shimmering desert of contemporary publishing”[6].

Schott followed up the success of the Original Miscellany with two sequels – Schott’s Food & Drink Miscellany and Schott’s Sporting, Gaming, & Idling Miscellany. While both bestsellers (Schott had two books simultaneously in the Sunday Times top ten) – sales did not match the runaway success of the first book. A bestseller is a Book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade In part this was because of a vast swathe of copycat books designed to look and feel exactly like the Schott formula. One of the most shameless copies was Robson's Books' Companion books, which ripped off the Schott style with an entire series. The director of the company, Polly Powell, admitted to Publishers Weekly that “the writers of all the Companions are good writers, and Ben Schott is a fantastic writer"[7]. Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade News magazine targeted at Publishers Librarians

The Miscellany trilogy has sold well over 2 million copies, and has been translated and adapted into dozens of languages, including French, Russian, Greek, Swedish, Italian, and Japanese.

Schott’s Almanacs

The first edition of Schott's Almanac was published in Britain in 2005 – now, yearly editions are published in Britain, America, and Germany. Schott's Almanac is a best-selling UK reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Almanacs share the same look and feel as the Miscellanies – but are substantially longer and larger. Each edition is different, although some content is shared or adapted. The British edition has sections on The World; Society; Media & Celebrity; Music & Movies; Books & Arts; Science & Technology; Parliament & Politics; Form & Faith; The Establishment; Sport; and an Ephemerides section that contains traditional almanac information on dates, moon phases, and the season. The Establishment is a Pejorative term used to refer to the traditional Ruling class Elite and the structures of society that they control An ephemeris (plural ephemerides; from the Greek word ἐφήμερος ephemeros "daily" is a table of values that gives the positions of The Sunday Times called Schott’s Almanac "a social barometer of genuine historical value”; the Boston Globe called it “One of the oddest and most addictively readable reference books in print”. Schott introduced the 2006 Almanac with a quote from Ben Hecht: “Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock”. Ben Hecht (pronounced hekt) ( February 28, 1894 &ndash April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter director producer playwright

Journalism

For two years after the publication of the first Miscellany, Schott wrote a weekly miscellany column for the The Daily Telegraph, as well as producing special miscellany features on Christmas and The Olympics. The Olympic Games is an international Multi-sport event established for both summer and winter games For over a year he wrote a regular travel miscellany column for the UK edition of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. Condé Nast Traveler is an American Magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, started in 1987 and specializing in luxury In 2005 and 2006 the Guardian featured special editions of G2 featuring extracts from Schott’s Almanac.

In 2008 Schott was appointed as a Contributing Columnist for the New York Times OpEd page. He also writes regular features for The Times. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.

Schott publishes a bespoke Miscellany Diary with the society printers Smythson of Bond Street, and a desk-pad diary with Workman. Bespoke is usually a British English term for Tailored clothing (including coats suits and shirts made at a customer's request and exactly to the For other uses of the term 'diary' see Diary (disambiguation. Smythson of Bond Street is a British manufacturer of luxury Stationery, Leather goods diaries, and Fashion products based A range of Miscellany-ware products is in the pipeline.

Design

Schott typesets all of his books and most of his articles – now using Adobe’s InDesign after apparently abandoning QuarkXPress. Adobe InDesign is a Desktop publishing (DTP software application produced by Adobe Systems. QuarkXPress ("Quark" is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment His books are noted for specifying the precise design tools (fonts, leading, etc) that he employs. He has regularly acknowledged the influence of the work of Edward Tufte in influencing the look and feel of his books[8]. Edward Rolf Tufte (ˈtʌfti (1942 is an American Statistician, and Professor Emeritus of Statistics, Information design, Interface design

The characteristic cover illustrations for his books are created by Alison Lang, and the drawing inside the Almanacs are by Chris Lyon.

In 2004, he won a D&AD award for the design of Schott’s Food & Drink Miscellany[9]. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Design and Art Direction ( D&AD, formerly known as British Design & Art Direction) is a British educational charity which exists to promote excellence


Miscellany

Miscellaneous facts about Ben Schott:

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Daily Telegraph, December 2002. Ben gave up a pension - but his trivial pursuit has become a serious success.
  2. ^ The Times, 4 November 2006. The devil of the details.
  3. ^ Schott Media.
  4. ^ The Guardian, 6 November 2002. The bare facts.
  5. ^ The Boston Globe, 7 November 2006. He's a real gee-whiz kind of guy.
  6. ^ The Observer, 8 December 2002. God bless you, Mr Schott.
  7. ^ Publishers Weekly. Does the World Need More Miscellany?.
  8. ^ The Independent. Book of a lifetime.
  9. ^ D&AD awards 2004.
  10. ^ The Guardian, 12 November 2005. If you haven't a clue.
  11. ^ The Guardian, 14 October 2006. Maximum volume.

External links

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