Great lives

A chance discovery in a bookshop led art specialists to reclusive Yorkshire artist Joash Woodrow, described as "Leed's lost modern master." His paintings now sell for five figure sums but the 77 year old would just like to be left alone.

One of the world's finest heavyweight boxing champions Max Schmeling died on Wednesday, aged 99. He dined with Hitler and was used by the Nazis as a symbol of Aryan supremacy but he was certainly not a supporter.

Paul Rusesabagina was the manager of a luxury hotel in Kigali when it was caught in the middle of the Rwandan genocide. He is now lauded as an African Schindler because:

The hotel was packed full of Tutsis whose names were on Hutu death lists. Yet through ingenuity and bravery Rusesabagina kept every one of them from the soldiers.

From the secretive start to her career to being feted by John Updike, Alice Munro has remained true to the lives and rhythms of small-town life, and, as she tells Louise France, her new collection of short stories is another celebration of the everyday.