Observer list shocker

Robert McCrum of The Observer lists what the paper believes to be the top 50 players in the (British) world of books. I read it absent-mindedly muttering ‘first up against the wall …’ until I reached the ‘ones who nearly made the list’ list. Who was top? Not some suit grabbing a sandwich for lunch with an Excel spreadsheet, not a pro-war liberal with a thesaurus, not a TV exec patronising a dimwit presenter’s intellectual vanity, but our very own Mark Thwaite of ReadySteadyBook! It’s not yet two years since I first pointed Splinters readers RSB’s way; a Wile E. Coyote pointing to Roadrunner kinda way.