Items30The creator’s order
  1. 1Julia ChildJulia ChildBefore the cookbooks and television, Child worked for the Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War, handling research and intelligence records. Cookery became a serious new course of study when she enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in 1949; Mastering the Art of French Cooking followed in…0i
  2. 2Angela MerkelAngela MerkelBorn 17 Jul 1954Merkel worked at East Germany's Academy of Sciences from 1978 to 1990 and earned a doctorate in physics before entering national politics. The upheavals of 1989 opened the route into political organising; she became Germany's chancellor in 2005. The break between two institutions is as interesting…0i
  3. 3Ken JeongKen JeongJeong practised internal medicine while developing comedy and acting, including medical work in Los Angeles from 1998. His film breakthrough came playing a doctor in Knocked Up in 2007, followed by a much larger acting career. Medicine supplied one conspicuous early role. The more revealing part of…0i
  4. 4Paul GauguinPaul GauguinBorn 7 Jun 1848Gauguin worked in the Paris financial world while beginning to paint and exhibit. After the 1882 market crash, painting became his main pursuit, leading eventually to the work for which he is now widely known. This is a disruptive rather than reassuring change of profession: the transition brought…0i
  5. 5John GrishamJohn GrishamBorn 8 Feb 1955Grisham opened his Mississippi law practice in 1981 and wrote fiction while working as an attorney and legislator. A trial helped prompt A Time to Kill, published in 1989, before The Firm made writing a commercially sustainable career. The practical connection is unusually direct: professional…0i
  6. 6Raymond ChandlerRaymond ChandlerBorn 23 Jul 1888Chandler rose through the California oil business before losing his job in 1932. His first Black Mask story appeared in 1933, and The Big Sleep introduced Philip Marlowe in novel form in 1939. There is a clear break here, followed by an apprenticeship in pulp fiction rather than instant literary…0i
  7. 7Dashiell HammettDashiell HammettHammett joined the Pinkerton detective agency in 1915, working as a clerk and operative before illness and wartime service interrupted that career. Published fiction followed in the early 1920s, eventually producing The Maltese Falcon. Casework and spare report-writing gave the second profession…0i
  8. 8Nevil ShuteNevil ShuteBorn 17 Jan 1899Writing began alongside Nevil Shute Norway's substantial aeronautical-engineering career. He worked on airships, co-founded Airspeed in 1931 and remained a joint managing director until 1938, when he left the aircraft industry. The novelist Nevil Shute kept engineering problems, ordinary competence…0i
  9. 9Dennis FarinaDennis FarinaFarina served in the Chicago police from 1967 to 1985, beginning to act before he finally left the force. Michael Mann's Thief offered an early screen opportunity, and Crime Story helped establish the second career. Familiarity with police work could inform his performances, but acting also allowed…0i
  10. 10Brendan GleesonBrendan GleesonBorn 29 Mar 1955Gleeson spent about a decade teaching English and Irish before turning professional as an actor in 1989. Theatre work with Passion Machine was part of that transition, well before his international film reputation. Teaching and acting both involved language and an audience, but the second still…0i