Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) was an English actor and theatre director. He was a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In film his best-known work featured roles in Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the Harry Potter series, Sense & Sensibility and Love, Actually. He won numerous awards including a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy. He died on 14 January 2016.

Alan Taylor is a journalist and writer. He was founding editor of The Scottish Review of Books. He has edited several acclaimed anthologies, including The Assassin’s Cloak, a collection of the world’s best diarists. He is the author of Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark and is the series editor of Spark’s collected novels.