I . Iris Murdoch
(1919–99)
a British writer and philosopher, born in Dublin. Her clever novels explore complicated human and sexual relationships among 20th-century middle-class people, often with great humour. Among the best-known are The Sandcastle (1957), A Severed Head (1961) and The Sea, The Sea (1978), which won the Booker Prize . Iris Murdoch suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and the film Iris (2001) was based on a book about her last years written by her husband, John Bayley. She was made a dame (2) in 1987.
II . Rupert Murdoch
(1931– )
a very rich businessman who owns a large share in an international group of newspaper and broadcasting companies. He was born in Australia but is now a US citizen. In Britain he owns News International, a group which includes the News of the World , the Sun , The Times , and the Sunday Times , and half of the satellite television company BSkyB . In the US Murdoch also owns the film company 20th Century Fox , the Fox Television Network and the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.