His books were already a success, but it was from a space age home he built near Colombo that the bulk of his work has been done - more than 60 titles of science fact and fiction, translated into more than 20 twenty languages around the world.

BBC: Legendary science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke at 80

Their popularity is rivalled by western writers of pulp fiction whose books have been translated into Polish: John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Danielle Steel, Erich Segal and, above all, William Wharton, an American writer who is far more widely read in Poland than in his own country.

ECONOMIST: Mass distraction in Poland