Then destiny, in the form of smart producers, put him together with Simon Beaufoy's screenplay -- the writer's best-known script to that point had been "The Full Monty" -- and the result will make movie history.

WSJ: 'Slumdog' Finds Riches in Poor Boy's Tale

The phrase was first used by Mee - a celebrated writer and journalist best known for his 1908 Children's Encyclopaedia - in The King's England, a 1930s series of books offering a guide to each of England's counties.

BBC: Magazine

The actor-director-writer-producer quadruple hyphenate, best known for flicks like Madea's Family Reunion, has created a vast library of hits, which he owns, geared to a loyal black audience.

FORBES: Lacey Rose On Hollywood

Johnson was a challenging and determinedly avant-garde writer, best known for his fiction.

FORBES: On Jonathan Coe: Give Me 27 Films and I'll Show You the Man

Respected whisky writer Jim Murray said sulphur used to kill bacteria in wooden casks was marring Scotland's best-known export.

BBC: Quiz of the week's news