David Crystal works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1941, he spent his early years in Holyhead. His family moved to Liverpool in 1951, and he received his secondary schooling at St Mary's College. He read English at University College London (1959-62), He published the first of his 60 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language. He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years, and is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols was born in Crosby in 1945. He attended St. Mary's College from 1956 to 1963 and was ordained priest in 1969. Before his appointment as an Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Hume in 1992, Bishop Vincent was General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was installed as 8th Archbishop of Birmingham in March 2000 and is also Chairman of the Department for Catholic Education and Formation of the Bishops' Conference. In May 2009 Archbishop Nichols takes up a new position as the Archbishop of Westminster - Leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. He has written one book to date: Promise of Future Glory - Reflections on the Mass.
Roger McGough writes poems for adults and children and he is also a performance poet. He was born in Liverpool in November 1937 and was brought up during the Second World War against the background of the bombing of the city. He was educated at St Mary's College, and at Hull University. He was a member of the pop music/poetry group 'The Scaffold' between 1963 and 1973. He made his name as one of the 'Liverpool Poets' with Adrian Henri and Brian Patten. He has twice won the Signal Poetry Award: first in 1984 then again in 1999. His film work includes Kurt, Mungo, BP and Me (1984), for which he won a BAFTA award, and he won the Royal Television Society Award for his science programme The Elements (1993).