Bill Bryson

Bryson worked across journalist, travel writer, autobiographer, science writer and science communicator and 2 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in popular science literature and travel literature. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Bill Bryson studied at Drake University and Theodore Roosevelt High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is literary activity, non-fiction literature and popular science literature. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are popular science and travel. Employment is recorded with The Chapel at Former Holloway Sanatorium Virginia Water. Positions recorded include Chancellor of Durham University. Works named in the authority record are A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home: A Short History of Private Life and A Walk in the Woods. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Zilveren Griffel, James Joyce Awards and honorary doctor of the University of Leicester.

• Name — Bill Bryson • Honorific Suffix — HonFRS • Office — Chancellor of Durham University • 1blankname — Vice-Chancellor • 1namedata — * Kenneth Calman • Chris Higgins • Term Start — 5 November 2005 • Term End — 31 December 2011 • Predecessor — Peter Ustinov • Successor — Thomas Allen • Birth Name — William McGuire Bryson • Born — 8 December 1951 • Birthplace — Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. • Children — 4 • Education — Drake University (BA) • Citizenship — United States United Kingdom

Bryson was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Bill Bryson Sr., a sports journalist who worked for 50 years at The Des Moines Register, and Agnes Mary (née McGuire), the home furnishings editor at the same newspaper. His mother was of Irish descent. He had an older brother, Michael (1942–2012), and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth. In 2006, Bryson published The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a humorous account of his childhood years in Des Moines. In 2006 Frank Cownie, the mayor of Des Moines, awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day." Bryson attended Drake University for two years before dropping out in 1972, deciding instead to backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, Matt Angerer (the pseudonymous Stephen Katz). Bryson wrote about some of his experiences from the trip in his book Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe.

• Illustration — Bryson in the regalia of Chancellor of Durham University in 2005 • Illustration — Bryson in 2013 • Illustration — Bryson in 2013 Bryson first visited Great Britain in 1973 during his tour of Europe and decided to stay after securing a job working in a psychiatric hospital, the now-defunct Holloway Sanatorium in Virginia Water, Surrey. He met a nurse there, Cynthia Billen, whom he married in 1975. They moved to Bryson's hometown of Des Moines in 1975 so Bryson could complete his degree at Drake University. In 1977 they settled in Britain. He worked as a journalist, first for the Bournemouth Evening Echo, eventually becoming chief copy editor of the business section of The Times and deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent. The Brysons moved around the United Kingdom, living in Virginia Water (Surrey), Purewell (Dorset), Burton (Dorset), Kirkby Malham, and the Old Rectory in Wramplingham, Norfolk (2003–2013). They currently live in rural Hampshire and maintain a small flat in South Kensington, London. From 1995 to 2003 they lived in Hanover, New Hampshire. Although able to apply for British citizenship, Bryson said in 2010 that he had declined a citizenship test, declaring himself "too cowardly" to take it. In 2014, he said that he was preparing to take it and in the prologue to his 2015 book The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island he describes doing so, in Eastleigh. His citizenship ceremony took place in Winchester and he now holds dual citizenship.

In 2012, Bryson sued his agent, Jed Mattes Inc., in New York County Supreme Court, claiming it had "failed to perform some of the most fundamental duties of an agent". The case was settled out of court with confidential terms. In 2013, Bryson claimed copyright on an interview he had given nearly 20 years previously, after the interviewer republished it as an 8,000-word e-book. Amazon removed the e-book from publication.

Bryson has written the following books: • Title — Publication date — Genre — Notes • The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words — Language — Republished, in 2002, as Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words • The Palace under the Alps and Over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries — Travel • The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America — Travel • The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way (US) / Mother Tongue: The English Language (UK) — Language — Adapted for Journeys in English in 2004 for BBC Radio 4. • The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors — Language — Republished, in 2009, as Bryson's Dictionary: for Writers and Editors • Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe — Travel — Featuring Stephen Katz • Made in America (UK) / Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (U.S.) — Language • Notes from a Small Island — Travel — Adapted for television by Carlton Television in 1998 • A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail — Travel — Featuring Stephen Katz and adapted into a feature film in 2015 • Notes from a Big Country (UK) / I'm a Stranger Here Myself (U.S.) — Travel • Down Under (UK) / In a Sunburned Country (U.S.) — Travel — Republished, in 2002, as an omnibus with A Walk in the Woods titled Walkabout • Bill Bryson's African Diary — Travel — Travels in Africa for CARE International • A Short History of Nearly Everything — Science — Adapted, in 2009, as an illustrated children's edition titled A Really Short History of Nearly Everything • The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: Travels Through My Childhood — Memoir • Shakespeare: The World as Stage — Biography • At Home: A Short History of Private Life — History • One Summer: America, 1927 — History • The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island — Travel • The Body: A Guide for Occupants — Science — Illustrated edition published in 2022; children's edition A Really Short Journey Through the Body published in 2023 • The Secret History of Christmas — History — Released as an audiobook • A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 — Science — Fully revised and updated version of his 2003 book

Bill Bryson was recorded at birth as William McGuire Bryson. He also worked under the name Bill Bryson. The authorities additionally record the headings William Bryson, William "Bill" McGuire Bryson and William McGuire Bryson. His recorded language was English.

Bill Bryson worked in literary activity, non-fiction literature, popular science literature, travel book and English studies. He was employed by The Chapel at Former Holloway Sanatorium Virginia Water. Recorded position is Chancellor of Durham University. He belonged to Royal Society.

Bill Bryson is recorded with the occupation science communicator. Classed in the genre popular science literature. Recorded with the occupation travel writer. Recorded as journalist, autobiographer, science communicator, traveler and writer.

In 2004, he won the Aventis Prize for best general science book that year, with A Short History of Nearly Everything. In 2005, the book won the European Union's Descartes Prize for science communication. In 2005, he received the President's Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for advancing the cause of the chemical sciences. In 2007, he won the Bradford Washburn Award, from the Museum of Science in Boston, for contributions to the popularization of science. In 2005, Bryson was appointed chancellor of Durham University, succeeding the late Sir Peter Ustinov. He had praised Durham as "a perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island. With the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Bill Bryson Prize for Science Communication was established in 2005. The competition engages students from around the world in explaining science to non-experts. As part of its 350th anniversary celebrations in 2010 the Royal Society commissioned Bryson to edit a collection of essays by scientists and science writers about the history of science and the Royal Society over the previous three and a half centuries entitled Seeing Further. He was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contribution to literature on 13 December 2006. In 2007, he was awarded the James Joyce Award by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin. After he received British citizenship, his OBE was made substantive. In May 2007, he became the president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. His first focus in this role was the establishment of an anti-littering campaign across England. He discussed the future of the countryside with Richard Mabey, Sue Clifford, Nicholas Crane, and Richard Girling at CPRE's Volunteer Conference in November 2007. In 2011, Bryson won the Golden Eagle Award from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild. Bryson stepped down as chancellor of Durham University at the end of 2011. In 2012, he received the Kenneth B. Myer Award from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience in Melbourne, Australia. On 22 November 2012, Durham University officially renamed the Main Library the Bill Bryson Library for his contributions as the university's 11th chancellor (2005–2011). The library also has a cafe named after Bryson's book Notes from a Small Island. Bryson was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2013, becoming the first non-Briton to receive this honour. His biography at the Society reads, Bill Bryson is a popular author who is driven by a deep curiosity for the world we live in. Bill's books and lectures demonstrate an abiding love for science and an appreciation for its social importance. His international bestseller, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), is widely acclaimed for its accessible communication of science and has since been adapted for children. He is a vice president of the National Churches Trust. In January 2007, Bryson was the Schwartz Visiting Fellow at the Pomfret School in Connecticut.

• Honorary Doctor of the University, The Open University, 2002 • Honorary Doctor of Civil Law, Durham University, 2004 • Honorary Doctorate of Letters, Bournemouth University, 2005 • Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of St Andrews, 2005 • DLitt, University of Leeds, 2005 • Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Leicester, 2009 • Doctor of Humane Letters, Drake University, 2009 • Honorary Doctorate of Letters, King's College London, 13 November 2012 • Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Westminster, 2015 • Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Iowa, May 2016 • Honorary Doctorate of Letters for services to literature, University of Winchester, October 2016