Contents

Introduction                                                                                          vii

PART ONE: the cultural icons
1. Elvis Presley — kinky king of rock ’n’ roll 3
2. John Lennon — troubled but brilliant Beatle 19
3. Madonna — exhibitionist pop diva 35
4. Angelina Jolie — down-to-earth sex goddess 51
5. Brad Pitt — celluloid chick magnet 63
6. JK Rowling — spellbinding storyteller 75
7. Dan Brown — cloak-and-dagger heretic 85
8. Andy Warhol — eccentric art phenomenon 97
9. Frida Kahlo — flamboyantly tragic artist 119
10. Albert Einstein — physicist who escaped to the cosmos 133
11. Sigmund Freud — psychoanalyst trapped by his own
Oedipal complex 		145
12. Walt Disney — tyrannical nostalgia mogul 167
13. Coco Chanel — fashion liberator 189
14. Amelia Earhart — accident-prone aviatrix 201
15. Edmund Hillary — Everest’s unexpected conqueror 211
16. Tiger Woods — self-programmed golf wizard 223
17. David Beckham — fastidious football star 233
     
PART TWO: insights
     
18. The common factors 247
19. What are outsiders? 265
20. Outsiders are made early 273
21. Intelligence and other advantages 305
22. Creative edge 315
23. Inventing their own lives 329
24. Creative or crazy? 333
25. Paying the piper 347
26. Ten tips for aspiring cultural icons 353
27. Bibliography 357
28. Further reading 361
29. Index 363