Xie Guobiao (C), 11, tied to a pillar with a rope, cries as his grandmother (L) and younger sister look on at his home in Daohui village of Lishui, Zhejiang province May 7, 2014. Xie was diagnosed as mentally handicapped when he was young, but the family was not able to provide him with sufficient medical treatment because of poverty. At the age of six, Xie started to sneak out of his home when others were not looking, climbing on top of houses and smashing windows. Xie's family had to pay over 10,000 yuan ($1,606) in compensation to others for the damage he caused. Since then, the family has had to tie Xie up with a rope both at home and in public, they said. (Photo by William Hong/Reuters)

Jackie Leek takes her giant pet tortoise — an eight-year-old African sulcata called Mr Miyagi — on his regular walk to the Crossing Pub in Morecambe, UK on September 25, 2024. Mr Miyagi, who weighs about three stone and will eventually reach ten, also enjoys caravanning holidays. (Photo by William Lailey/South West News Service)

A woman looks at some of the 60 plane trees wrapped in a pink-and-white polka-dot design developed especially for Melbourne by Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama titled “Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees”, in Melbourne on November 27, 2024. The National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) world-premiere blockbuster exhibition Yayoi Kusama will be on display from 15 December 2024 to 21 April 2025. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Vintage car enthusiast Peter Bett, attends a auction at Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Club on April 2, 2011 in Glamis, Scotland. Buyers from around the UK and Europe are attending the auction of cars collected by William Cunnigham. Among the many rare classics on sale is a 1939 McEvoy Steyr, thought to be the only one in existence along with a Hotchkiss Grand Sport Roadster from 1936. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Collin Williams (front) and Sarah Putnam of Nevada, protesters affiliated with the Occupy Las Vegas movement, participate in a “zombie walk” on the Las Vegas Strip October 30, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The demonstrators are protesting what they believe is greed and corruption among banking and business leaders in solidarity with other Occupy movements around the world. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

Assistant Manager Jayesh Vaghela brushes a vintage silk top hat at Lock & Co. Hatters on March 22, 2011 in London, England. Founded in St. James's in 1676, when Charles II was on the throne, this family owned business has provided hats for Royalty and the gentry for over 300 years. Staff report that sales of formal hats are booming ahead of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.

An original 1850 puntabout rugby football is displayed at Rugby School in central England, March 18, 2015. Rugby School is known as the spiritual home of rugby. According to a popular version of the game's origins, it was on the school's playing field that in 1823, in a game that could loosely be described as football but was more like a brawl, a pupil called William Webb Ellis caught the ball and, instead of kicking towards the goal, sprinted with it – breaking the code and laying the way for modern-day rugby. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)