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biography/news

Authortrek reviews Zadie’s novels

Zadie Smith’s Short Stories

White Teeth Reading Guide

Zadie Smith links

Articles by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith interviews

Academic papers on Zadie Smith

The Autograph Man Reading Guide

On Beauty Reading Guide and Review

Zadie Smith page

Zadie Smith was born on October 27th, 1975 in North London. Some of the inspiration for her debut novel, White Teeth, came from her upbringing. Her mother is Jamaican, and her parents met at a party, as Archie and Clara do in the novel. Zadie was so amazed that her father had ever been to a party, that she had to create that scene. However, Zadie has also said that while there may be similarities with her background, the characters of Archie’s family in the novel are far removed from those of her own.

          In her midteens, she changed her name from Sadie, to Zadie, because she thought that it would make her sound more exotic, and it certainly shows that she was thinking of words and what they mean from an early age (Sadie means ‘mercy’ or ‘princess’, which is a bit girly – ed.). There aren’t that many Sadie Smiths out there, if the internet is anything to go by, so she did not really have to change her name to stand out. On the other hand, if you type “Zadie” into Google, all the links are related to her, so she is the most famous Zadie in the world. She felt a bit of a freak at school, as she was always wearing odd “shoes, one red, one white, a red jumper and a red and white hat didn't help... Literature was a way of avoiding unpleasantness at school, particularly being at a big comprehensive”. Zadie Smith did have some good times at school, but perhaps she was a little introverted, and spent plenty of time in her room reading, for which consumers of literature can be thankful. However, she also has musical as well as literary talents, having previously earned some cash from singing jazz. Zadie is apparently very good at impersonating other singers, so one could say that she has only truly found her voice through writing. Tap dancing is also another one of her talents, and if they started making MGM musicals again tomorrow, then she would probably be the first in the queue for the chorus line. We’ve heard that Zadie is writing a musical on the life of Franz Kafka with her husband, so perhaps we’ll be able to see her in a new light – the limelight of the stage.

          It also helps that she is smart, and was successful in gaining entry to Kings College, Cambridge, where she read English literature (which is what she was doing anyway – ed.). Yet, as Zadie Smith has said, “an English Lit degree trains you to be a useless member of the modern world”, so you may as well try to earn a living from what you’ve learnt. Whilst at Cambridge, she had a couple of short stories published in the May Anthologies (see below). It was also while she was at Cambridge that she wrote White Teeth, and where she first gained the attention of publishers, who conducted a bidding war over the book. Zadie also acquired an agent, the prestigious Wylie Agency. White Teeth was published to high acclaim in 2000, for which she was awarded the following literary prizes: The Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction), the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book). Zadie’s second novel, The Autograph Man, was published in 2002, and won the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction. Granta selected her as one of 20 young best British novelists in 2003. Her third novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. FilmFour have bought the movie rights for On Beauty, and are set to film the novel on a budget of $20m. Alison Owen and Scott Rudin will produce the film. Scott Rudin has previously handled successful literary adaptations, such as Angela’s Ashes, The Hours, and also produced The Wonder Boys. A non-fiction title, Fail Better, is due for 2006. “On Beauty” was the winner in the Eurasia region in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, however, Kate Grenville’s “The Secret River” won the overall title. Zadie Smith is also in the running for the Decibel Award, which is given to the African, Caribbean, or Asian writer who has made the greatest contribution to the literary year, and On Beauty has now won the 2006 Orange Prize, as well as a Somerset Maugham Award. After receiving the Orange Prize, Zadie Smith said: “I'm delighted that it happened ... I'm elated, I really am.” On Beauty has also won the fiction prize in the 2005 Anisfield-Wolf Awards, a prize that was previously won by one of Zadie Smith’s literary heroines, Zora Neale Hurston. Zadie Smith was voted the 9th most stylish British woman in an annual poll conducted by “Harpar’s Bazaar”, and was the only Briton to make Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people in 2006. Zadie Smith was one of the judges for the Filminute 2006 internet film festival, along with Bernardo Bertolucci and Isabella Rossellini.  Zadie married the poet and novelist Nick Laird in 2004, who she had met as a student at Cambridge.

 

biography/news

Authortrek reviews Zadie’s novels

Zadie Smith’s Short Stories

White Teeth Reading Guide

Zadie Smith links

Articles by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith interviews

Academic papers on Zadie Smith

The Autograph Man Reading Guide

On Beauty Reading Guide and Review

 

White Teeth – review of Zadie Smith's first novel

 

“Mrs. Begum's Son and the Private Tutor” - Zadie Smith's short story from 1997, which features early versions of White Teeth's characters!Picnic, Lightning” - another early story from Zadie Smith, published in the May Anthologies. Unfortunately, this website is now no longer online

 

White Teeth: A Conversation with Zadie Smith – Kathleen O’Grady, editor of the May Anthologies who published Zadie Smith’s first short stories, talks to her about the publication of White Teeth

 

Martha, Martha – we review the short story that was published in the issue of Granta that hailed Zadie Smith as one of the 20 Best Young British Novelists under forty

 

I’m the Only One – is a short story that Zadie wrote for a collection called “Speaking with the Angel”. This Barnes & Noble page looks to have an extract from the story

 

The Trials of Finch – is the title of a story that Zadie wrote for The New Yorker. It is not online, but she talks here to The New Yorker’s Ben Greenman about the story. In The Sovereignty of Others: Humanity in Zadie Smith’s “The Trial of Finch”, M S Smith writes about the short story in further depth

 

Hanwell Senior – is another Zadie Smith short story published in The New Yorker, and a very enjoyable one at that

 

biography/news

Authortrek reviews Zadie’s novels

Zadie Smith’s Short Stories

White Teeth Reading Guide

Zadie Smith links

Articles by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith interviews

Academic papers on Zadie Smith

The Autograph Man Reading Guide

On Beauty Reading Guide and Review

 

You are in Paradise – Zadie writes about a less than exotic visit to Tonga for The New Yorker

 

The Limited Circle is Pure – Zadie Smith writes about Franz Kafka, and given that she is writing a musical about him, this should be interesting.

 

Love, Actually – Zadie writes about EM Forster for The Guardian

 

On the Road: American Writers and their Hair – Zadie finds something to amuse her amongst the ennui of a book tour

 

We proceed in Iraq as hypocrites and coward – and the world knows it – Zadie tells it as it is in this article in The Guardian in 2003

 

The Divine Miss H – Zadie writes about Katherine Hepburn, her favourite actress

 

The A4 Challenge – The Guardian prints a doodle from Zadie about the 2004 Hay Festival

 

Shades of Greene – Zadie’s article on Graham Greene

 

Letter from Liberia – a personal account by Zadie Smith

 

We are Family – Zadie talks to her brother Ben, who released a rap album in 2005 under the name of Doc Brown. It gives some musical details about their childhood. Maybe writers soon will be more engaged with SOR?

 

Fail Better – an excellent Zadie Smith about how an author’s “self” interferes with the writing of the perfect novel. Read Better is Zadie’s continuance of this article

 

Zadie didn’t tell the real race story – an article in “The Sunday Times” by Maurice Chittenden, which voices Ziad Haider Rahman’s view of the novel – the article says that he was the inspiration for Magid

 

Enlivened by exasperation – a “Guardian” report on the proceedings of the Book Club they ran about On Beauty

 

Where did it all go wrong, darling? – Mary Ann Sieghart uses the Belseys’ marital problems in “On Beauty” to explain why we have fallen out of love with Labour

 

There now follows a more in-depth look at White Teeth, and I will do this by building up a list of links related to topics and themes discussed in the novel, page by page.  The page numbers come from the hardback edition, so for the benefit of the paperback readers, I will also quote the chapters:

 

What is past is prologue - an auspicious quote to start White Teeth off.  This is actually a quote from William Shakespeare's The Tempest.  This website has a picture of the statue inscription that Zadie Smith is probably referring to.  This statue, "The Future", is the work of Robert I. Aitken. This quote was fully attributed in later editions of the novel

 

Cricklewood Broadway - p. 3 Chapter 1 The Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones - ah, the place to be or not to be -- twinned with Venice!

 

Cavalier Musketeer Estate - p.3 Chapter 1 - is the very exotic name of Archie Jones's car.  I couldn't find any reference to this car on the net, so I think Zadie Smith made the name up.

 

Ophelia - page 7 Chapter 1 - is the name of Hamlet's mad, suicidal lover in William Shakespeare's famous play.  Although the Diagilo family has a tendency towards going nuts, it's actually Archie who's in the course of committing suicide in the book when Zadie Smith mentions his first wife, Ophelia Diagilo.

 

monstropolous - page 10 Chapter 1 - the use of this one word reveals the depth of Zadie Smith's reading, for only one writer ever used it before her - Zora Neale Hurston in "Their Eyes were Watching God".

 

Waste and Whiteness: Zora Neale Hurston and the Politics of Eugenics - provides another quote using the word "monstropolous".  Given that White Teeth also covers eugenics, this essay by Chuck Jackson might be of some interest to readers of White Teeth

 

Hoover's brand name - p. 10 Chapter 1 - the debate goes on and on. The Hoover building in Perivale is not a million miles away from Willesden, and it has ironically been internally rebranded as a Tesco supermarket (I can see the illuminations from my house in Ealing at night – ed.).

 

Cosimo de' Medici - p. 11 Chapter 1 - Archie's wife, Ophelia, has delusions of being the maid of this famous art patron

 

Herne Hill Stadium - p.13 Chapter 1 - this where the cycle events were held for the 1948 Olympics. It’s not going to be used for the 2012 London Olympics

 

1948 Cycling - these are the top 3's for the cycling events in the 1948 Olympics - doesn't go as far as 13th place!

 

Thespis - p. 20 Chapter 1 - introduced "hypocrisy" (more popularly known as "dialogue") into drama, and he invented tragedy.  Eastenders would never be the same again...

 

"That Jamaican Cricketer" - p. 21 Chapter 1 - I thought Zadie Smith was referring to Viv Richards here (Archie purloins a cardboard cut-out of Viv Richards to put in O'Connell's), but Viv Richards comes from Antigua and played for the West Indies

 

Chelsea Boots - p. 23 Chapter 2 Teething Trouble - all you ever needed to know about Ryan Topps' footwear

 

"This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" - p. 28 Chapter 2 - the debate about what Jesus actually meant when he said this rumbles on

 

A time, and times, and half a time? - p. 28 Chapter 2 - could have new implications for time and a half...

 

Jehovah's Witnesses decide the end is Fluid - p. 28 Chapter 2 - explains the emphasis on the 1914 generation, and why the end of the world just keeps slipping further away.

 

"Separating the Sheep from the Goats" - p. 29 Chapter 2 - Bad news for Goats Shocker - How Jehovah's Witnesses interpret (and re-interpret) this phrase

 

Nearer My God to Thee  - p. 30 Chapter 2 - singalong now!

 

Saint Jude - p. 31 Chapter 2 - Hey Jude!  Find out more about the saint - Clara and Ryan go to St. Jude's school<

 

Live fast, die young - p. 31 Chapter 2 - examines who may have come up with this phrase originally

 

The Lord's Supper and the 144, 000 Anointed Class of Jehovah's Witnesses - p. 33 Chapter 2 - how many Jehovah's Witnesses are cruelly denied wafer-thin bread

 

The 144,000 - so the world will be safe from apocalypse as long as we all keep on sinning!!!

 

The Great Crowd - p. 33 Chapter 2 - what Jehovah's Witnesses mean by this

 

Where is the Great Crowd? - my guess is that they're not at Wimbledon FC

 

Jehovah's Witnesses: An Overview - explains briefly what will happen to the lost

 

Murphy's Law - p. 37 Chapter 2 - where it all started to go wrong

 

Better to Marry than to Burn - p. 40 Chapter 3 Two Families - was Paul a misogynist? 

 

Should not muzzle the Ox - p. 40 Chapter 3 - why one must never do this, even if the ox in question is a fat lardy bastard.  St. Paul was obviously not thinking at all of the obvious implications for the Cadburys and Rowntrees production line

  

Iphegenia at Aulis by Euripides - p. 43 Chapter 3 - Clara at the registry office is where Zadie Smith deigns to tell us what her middle name is.  The real Iphegenia was fooled into going to Aulis by the promise of marrying hunk Achilles (while Archie's not a youthful hunk, like Achilles, he's a bit gammy in the leg region), but then she's sacrificed by her father Agamemnon instead, just so that the boys can go to war.  Such is the stuff of which several great dramas are made.  Does not bode well for the Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones

 

Jamaican Patois - p. 65 Chapter 4 Three Coming - mentions Irie

 

Abraham/Ibrahim - p. 65 Chapter 4 - one common figure in the traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.  Sarah must have been one hell of a babe at 90

 

The Churchill Tank - p.73 Chapter 5  The Root Canals of Alfred Archibald Jones and Samad Miah Iqbal - hardly the best tank in the world

 

how to cook rabbit - Koos Rozemond, a Dutch lawyer, lays into Zadie Smith's depiction of the Royal Engineers - but even he goes with the flow in the end.  I've always suspected that Zadie Smith was partially inspired by The English Patient for this section

 

Forging the Iron Curtain in the Balkans - p. 75 Chapter 5 - EAM was the political wing of ELAS, who were actually fighting EDES - so Zadie Smith is indeed incorrect on this page, as Rozemond writes (in his broken English).  Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a recent novel that famously dealt with this Greek acronym clash.  It would appear, that Zadie Smith, like KEVIN, has an acronym problem

 

The Gothic Line - p.77 Chapter 5 - where Samad fought well

 

The Tiger Triumphs - more details of Indian fighting divisions in Italy at this time

 

The German surrender documents - p. 80 Chapter 5 - as signed by Colonel-General Jodl

 

Dorothy Lamour - p.83 Chapter 5 - her IMDB entry

 

Pandy - p. 85 Chapter 5 - also means to strike the hand.  Samad, Mangal Pande's great grandson, was shot through the wrist by accident, ruining his earlier glorious war career

 

“Mangal Pande in London” - Amitava Kumar points out just how unlikely it is that Samad could be Mangal Pande's great grandson - but like Rozemond, she's willing to forgive Zadie Smith for the odd mistake or two in an utterly compelling narrative.  More to the point, where have all the good copy editors gone? This article is no longer online

 

Pesotsky - p.93 Chapter 5 - Zadie Smith possibly got this name from Chekhov's The Black Monk

 

Lydia the Tattooed Lady - p. 98 Chapter 5 - read the lyrics and singalong!

 

Facts about Diabetic Retinopathy - p. 100 Chapter 5 - learn more about this condition.  If Dr. Sick has such bad vision, how is he ever able to shoot Archie?

 

when the chips are down - p.104 Chapter 5 - comes from poker, a game that Samad is very good at.  Nothing to do with fish or depressed potatoes

 

The Cricket Test - p. 107 Chapter 5 - Norman Tebbit does his bit to promote cycling, if nothing else

 

“If they pass the ‘cricket test’, how do we stop the suicide bombers?” - Tebbit’s terminology is still being used by the media today, as this article by Niall Ferguson in the Telegraph shows

 

Mrs. Miniver - p.111 Chapter 6 The Temptation of Samad Iqbal - no doubt Samad first stumbles over Katie Miniver's name and status because if the famous book and film - you can learn more about Jan Struther, author of Mrs. Miniver, and read the whole book here

 

Am I a 'Ms' or a Miss - p. 112 Chapter 6 - the debate goes on

 

How do we worship - p. 113 Chapter 6 - Samad says that 20 days would be freed up if all the pagan holidays were removed from the Christian calendar, but this website says that there are only 8 pagan holidays

 

OshKosh B'Gosh - p. 117 Chapter 6 - can be spelt in several ways, although the spelling Zadie Smith employs is not that popular - Millat really wants to wear this stuff?

 

Why is the sky blue? P. 117 Chapter 6 - Magid is absolutely right

 

Blue Sky and Rayleigh Scattering - the science bit

 

To the Pure, All Things are Pure - p. 119 Chapter 6 - Samad must have heard Clara say this phrase, as it comes from St. Paul, upon whose writings she has already mused.  "Can't say fairer than that" sounds more like Archie.  Samad thinks of the sayings of his married friends as he contemplates infidelity

 

Things which make a Fast void - p. 120 Chapter 6 - Zadie Smith has them listed correctly

 

Abdullah Ibn Umar - p. 120 Chapter 6 - more details about him

 

Freddie Mercury - p. 135 Chapter 6 - the early life story of the Queen front man

 

Bharata Natyam - p. 136 Chapter 6 - more details about the dance that Alsana used to perform

 

Harlesden Clock - p. 142 Chapter 7 Molars - in glorious Technicolor

 

Home from Home - p. 143 Chapter 7 - the Stonebridge Estate is currently undergoing something of a regeneration

 

Speak-and-Spell - p. 148 Chapter 7 - literacy would never be the same again.  Zadie Smith should be paid for this product placement stuff

 

The Mandibular Third Molar: A Method of Predicting its Eruption - p. 150 Chapter 7 - what Dudley would have done for this...  Men inherit wisdom teeth much less regularly than women

 

Satyagraha - p. 154 Chapter 7 - find out more about Satyagraha and Gandhi

 

The Bukhari Hadiths of Islam -  p. 156 Chapter 7 - an overview

 

George Stubbs on the Internet - p. 159 Chapter 8 Mitosis - he's not just on the walls of O'Connell's

 

Beastie Boys-inspired fad boosts VW emblem thefts - p. 166 Chapter 8 - this is what Mickey is talking about when he refers to "Beetie Boys" - may I apologise on behalf of my brother for the theft of that VW emblem from a car that was parked outside our hotel in Sorrento in the late 80's?

 

Luncheon Vouchers - p .167 Chapter 8 - despite what Mickey says, the golden age of Luncheon Vouchers is not over, and it's all thanks to Zadie Smith!

 

Queen Lucksami Tave - p. 167 Chapter 8 - was not so lucky.  According to this webpage, she drowned in the river Chaopraya, not the Nippon-Kai as Zadie Smith writes

 

Operation Blue Star - p. 171 Chapter 8 - and the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi discussed

 

mono-browed - p.175 Chapter 8 - means "to not shave between the eyebrows”

 

“they are like the English POWs in Dresden who continued to pour tea and dress for dinner, even as the alarms went off, even as the city became a towering ball of fire” - p. 182 Chapter 9 Mutiny! - I could find no reference to this incident on the web, so I presume that Zadie Smith gleamed these details from reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, who is one of Zadie Smith's favourite writers, as listed in this interview

 

Geographical Facts of Bangladesh - p. 183 Chapter 9

 

Bangladesh Cyclone May 1985 - p. 184 Chapter 9 - more details about this disaster

 

"Night's darkness is a bag that bursts with the gold of the dawn" - p. 184 Chapter 9 - comes from Tagore's 'Stray Birds' - read the full text of the poem here

 

Rabindranath Tagore - p. 184 Chapter 9 - a brief bio of the writer who penned both the national anthems of India and Bangladesh

 

To put away childish things - p. 189 Chapter 9 - just how many letters did that St. Paul blokie write?  Zadie Smith's ghost writer invades the text again.  Ryan Topps also calls on this phrase to save him from the embarrassment he feels at meeting Clara's daughter, Irie - p. 335 Chapter 15

 

Biddy Mulligan's - p. 190 Chapter 9 - where Millat gets in a fight, is a real pub in Kilburn, that used to be frequented by some of the members of the rock band Bush

 

Tornadoes - p.190 Chapter 9 - the world's deadliest tornado swept through Bangladesh in April 1989

 

The Great Storm of October 1987 - p. 191 Chapter 9 – (coincided with my sister's 18th birthday – ed).  Michael Fish has never looked so pescine.  A more disturbing event than even the great Dudley earthquake of 2002

 

Royston (Iceni) Weather Station - you'll never leave!  Some pictures of roads blocked by the storm damage

 

The Great Storm - also affected Northern France and the Netherlands

 

Michael Fish  - a caricature

 

Worsley Institute of Blu-Tack Art - p.191 Chapter 9 - how long before they show up in Tate Modern?

 

Artists in Residence - Blu-Tack is "so polymorphous and essentially dichotomous", exactly the same thing that I always say about it.  I think they're taking the piss, but one can never be too sure with artists.

 

Blu-Tack - Mrs. McNeill, our school headmistress, was the first to introduce us to this magical new English sticky stuff.  It was my first exposure to product placement and globalisation, from which I've never truly recovered.  It's kind to speakers too - no band should leave home without one

 

Viz puts on a show - p.191 Chapter 9 - it were twenty years ago today when methought that Whizzer and Chips was the epitomy of comic excellence, but Viz was a photocopied rag about to hit the big time

 

"O Me O My.  There's no place like home.  There's no place like home" - pp.191-192 Chapter 9 - is a reference to The Wizard of Oz.  I find it hard to believe that hardboy Millat would do this.  Apparently, a character in The Autograph Man also mimics Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz.  The best critique of the movie was written by Salman Rushdie, who was right to question the ambivalent ending.  Maybe Zadie Smith will have a third and final click of the heels in her next novel

 

You Talkin' to Me? - p.192 Chapter 9 - Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, Millat's iconic hero

 

Buffalo Soldier - p. 194 Chapter 9 - the story behind Bob Marley's lyrics

 

Buffalo Soldier - the lyrics

 

"I do not serve what you worship, nor will you serve what I worship.  You have your own religion, and I have mine" - p. 197 Chapter 9 Mutiny! - quote from the Qur'an

 

Somokami - p. 199 Chapter 9 - looks like the crew are impugning the ticket-man's sexuality, and do this even more on p. 200.  But more importantly - was there ever a train service between King's Cross and Milton Keynes?  Sometimes I think Zadie Smith is making this stuff up as she goes along!  Not that I'm a trainspotter or anything, I just live in Milton Keynes

 

Raggastani - p. 200 Chapter 9 - although it's debatable whether Zadie Smith coined this word, she has certainly popularised it

 

Fear of a Black Planet - p. 200 Chapter 9 - the story behind this famous Public Enemy album

 

Rushdie in Hiding after Ayatollah's death threat - p. 202 Chapter 9 - mentions the burning of The Satanic Verses in Bradford

 

Book Burning in Bradford sparks political mayhem - p. 202 Chapter 9 - There were many people attending the protest who, like Millat, hadn't read the book.  (I remember talking to a woman I worked with at the time who was violently angry against Rushdie if she had actually read the book - she hadn't - but then again, neither have I  - ed.).  However, events over the last year have made White Teeth even more resonant as a book of our times

 

A Decade on, the Rushdie crisis is over - p. 202 Chapter 9 - Never mind the man from Porlock, the man from my home town of Slough was far more malevolent

 

Divargiit Singh - p.203 Chapter 9 - gets his only reference on Google due to his mention in White Teeth

 

The vast majority of Bangladesh's inhabitants are Bengalis - p. 204 Chapter 9 - seems to be liberally quoted on the web

 

Indo-Aryan - p. 204 Chapter 9 - definition

 

Chuck D takes on the record industry - p.205 Chapter 9 - Millat has (had) a signed autograph from this member of Public Enemy - before Alsana burns it.  The Autograph Man, of course, relates the business behind the exchange of such symbols

 

Slick Rick's Hey Young World - p. 205 Chapter 9 - has recently been re-recorded by Macy Gray

 

Shaft in Africa - p. 205 Chapter 9 - a review of this film epic

 

Berlin and the Cold War - p. 205 Chapter 9 - a good place to start to find out about the fall of the Berlin Wall

 

Fort! Da! Blues! - p. 211 Chapter 10 The Root Canals of Mangal Pande - everything you ever needed to know about the game invented by Freud's grandson, fort-da.  Still, if the Football League collapses, we'll all be looking for a cheaper new sport to entertain us

 

Dum-Dum Arsenal - p. 218 Chapter 10 - a variation on "Boring, boring Arsenal"?

 

The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 - pp. 218-219 Chapter 10 - more details

 

Paper Cartridges and the Sepoy Rebellion - pp.218-219 Chapter 10 - includes an extract from Blackwood's Magazine

 

Mangal Pande and Bhang - p. 221 Chapter 10 - according to Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Hindus don't have any qualms about drinking bhang, as long as it is strong enough

 

Captain Hearsay - p.220 Chapter 10 - I could not find any mention of a Captain Hearsay in relation to Mangal Pande, but a Captain Hearsay did (appropriately enough) threaten to sue Rudyard Kipling for libel, which led to Kipling abandoning India.  It was more than a hundred years later when a crappy, manufactured pop band maliciously stole the good captain's name for their own nefarious ends.  According to one webpage, the name and rank of the officer who demanded Pande's arrest was actually Major-General Hearsey, although the Wikipedia webpage above refers to ‘General Hearsay’

 

Trafalgar Square - Napier and Havelock: Truth behind the Generals' statues - p.220 Chapter 10 - it's not only Samad who hates this statue of General Havelock - Ken Livingstone wants to pull it down too

 

Alas! Poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio - p.221 Chapter 10- is the actual quote that everyone really knows well

 

Tatia, the Sword of Freedom - p. 225 Chapter 10 - another account of Mangal Pande's mutiny

 

In the old age black was not counted fair - p. 231 Chapter 11  - read this critique of Sonnet 127

 

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun - p.231 Chapter 11 "The Miseducation of Irie Jones" - a critique of Sonnet 130

 

Thy black is fairest in my judgement's place - p. 233 Chapter 11 - this quote comes from Sonnet 131

 

For since each hand hath put on nature's power - p. 233 Chapter 11 - is another quote from Sonnet 127

 

In nothing art thou black, save in thy deeds - p. 235 Chapter 11 - comes from Sonnet 131

 

Then I swear, beauty herself is black - p. 235 Chapter 11 - in his brilliant critique of Sonnet 132, Nigel Davies does battle with Mrs Roody's interpretation of this series of sonnets.  Irie's reading - that Shakespeare is celebrating the beauty of a black mistress - does ring very true

 

“Blacks in London: An Interpretation” - p. 235 Chapter 11 - Henry Louis Gates, Jr. says that Elizabeth I "demanded that all the blacks in England pick up and leave", so Mrs Roody is wrong in her assumption that there were no Africans in seventeenth century London

 

Introduction to Black Studies - p. 235 Chapter 11 - this overview mentions that "African slaves were brought to England from the 1570s onward.  It became fashionable"

 

Black Wednesday was White only in Britain - p.240 Chapter 11 - Robert J. Gordon writes some mumbo-jumbo about why Britain left the ERM

 

Lessons learned on 'Black Wednesday - p.240 Chapter 11 - the BBC overview of the crisis

 

It's time to get your knots fried - p.240 Chapter 11 - Erika Rollins on the contradictions of the beauty industry

 

Ethnic haircare - p. 240 Chapter 11 - from research sponsored by Mintel

 

KTalk - p.240 Chapter 11 - where there's demand, there are business opportunities, as Paul King discovers to his delight in White Teeth, with some of the money even going to good causes

 

Gimme a head with hair - p. 240 Chapter 11 - shows how globalization if affecting thee beauty industry, with black-owned firms being bought out by the major cosmetics companies (referenced webpage is no longer online – ed.).  "And I wish to God I could buy black hair products from black people for once" says one of the customer's in Roshi's Haircare, little knowing that this will soon be even more difficult (p. 243 Chapter 11)

 

Black Beauty: Millionaire C. J. Walker - p. 240 Chapter 11 - C. J. Walker was America's first self-made woman millionaire, money she earned from her creation of beauty products for black women

 

The HisTory of Michael Jackson's face - p.243 Chapter 11 - need we say more?

 

Sense and Sinsemilla - p. 245 Chapter 11 - sinsemilla is marijuana

 

"Samad hates Saraswati, you understand.  Calls him colonial-throwback, English licker-of-behinds" - p. 248 Chapter 11.  I am not sure if Zadie Smith is referring to any particular writer here.  His name suggests V. S. Naipaul, but Naipaul was born in the Caribbean.  Saraswati is the name of a Hindu goddess

 

"Where is his Khamise?" - p. 249 Chapter 11 - Samad is critical Magid's Western clothing

 

"What does Islam mean?" - p. 249 Chapter 11 - find out here

 

Laborare est Orare - p.250 Chapter 11 – definition of this Latin phrase

 

toke - p. 251 Chapter 11 - is a word that has travelled far

 

The Keepers of the Eternal and Victorious Islamic Nation (or KEVIN - they have an acronym problem) - p. 255 Chapter 11 - would appear to be a satire on the Nation of Islam

 

The person who goes in search of knowledge is on active service for God until he returns - p. 255 Chapter 11 - this phrase can be used in the context of converting to Islam

 

Vermiculous - p. 264 Chapter 11 - appropriately enouggh, means "wormy".  A good word for all you Scrabble freaks out there

 

The British Empire Exhibition of 1924 - p. 265 Chapter 11 - Wembley has never been used just for football

 

British Empire Exhibition - p. 265 Chapter 11 - another view

 

autogamy - p. 267 Chapter 12 Canines: The Ripping Teeth - onanists

 

geitonogamy - p. 267 Chapter 12 - slightly more exciting than monogamy (for plants)

 

xenogamy - p. 267 Chapter 12 - nothing to do with Xena, or her gams

 

The Third Life of Grange Copeland - p. 268 Chapter 12 - more about Alice Walker's first novel