Ricky Ponting — Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974), nicknamed Punter, is the current captain of the Australian cricket team. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He is regarded as one of Australia’s finest cricketers in the modern era. He represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic …

Pepe — For Real Madrid’s centre-half Pepe, the last decade has been one of non-stop success. Like so many Brazilian footballers, the defender crossed the globe in 2000 to seek fame and fortune in European football. He ended up at Madeira club Maritimo where, after a short spell in the reserves, he established himself as a top-class central defender, and …

Norman Mailer — Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, filmmaker, actor and political activist. His first novel was The Naked and the Dead, published in 1948. His best work was widely considered to be The Executioner’s Song, which was published in 1979, and for which he won one of …

Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972), often referred to as Murali, is a Sri Lankan cricketer, who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack in 2002. Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket and in One Day Internationals (ODIs). He took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir on 5 February 2009 in Colombo to …

Morari Bapu, real name Moraridas Prabhudas Hariyani born on September 25, 1946 in Talgajarda is a popular Hindu kathakaar (preacher), who has been giving 9 day-long sermons (kathaas) in both Gujarati and Hindi all over the world—including in India, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea, and on an …

Mesut Oezil — The sigh of relief in German football was almost audible when Mesut Ozil made the step up to international class with a string of outstanding performances. At last, people said, the three-time world champions had a new “number ten”. And they were right: a sprightly and technically gifted playmaker, Ozil is the kind of player that does …

Mary Leakey was born Mary Douglas Nichol on February 6, 1913, in London, England to Erskine Edward Nichol and Cecilia Marion (Frere) Nichol. Since Erskine worked as a painter, specializing in water colour landscapes, the Nichol family would move from place to place, visiting numerous locations in the USA, Italy, and Egypt, where Erskine painted scenes to be sold in …

Martin Palermo earned his recall to the Argentina side by doing what he does best: scoring goals, and lots of them. Boca Juniors’ all-time top scorer with 218 in all, El Loco endured a frustrating time in his first spell in the blue and white striped jersey, during which he had the misfortune to miss three penalties in a 1999 …

Maxi Rodriguez — A dynamic midfielder known for his powerful running and eye for goal, Maxi Rodriguez has brought all those qualities to bear for Argentina’s youth and senior teams and in the highly competitive Spanish and English top flights. Starting his career at Newell’s Old Boys in 1999, he moved to Espanyol three years later. It was in Spain …

Luis Suarez, is one of the stars of the Uruguay team for obvious reasons: he is a world-class finisher with remarkable technical ability, is blessed with a powerful shot and has the ability to out-jump opponents, which means he also poses a serious aerial threat. Suarez was only 11 when he left his native city of Salto to travel nearly 500 …