Daniel Sieberg's wife used to have a nickname for him. She called him "glow worm" because every night when the lights were off, his face was always illuminated by some kind of screen.

She began to get frustrated by her husband's compulsive online behaviour. He would be on social networking sites or surfing the internet and their relationship began to suffer.

Like many people at the start of the year, Zoe Strimpel is on a diet. However, for her it is not the cakes and pastries which are being rationed but rather men.

Bennett Arron is used to being in a minority of one. As a boy growing up just outside the Welsh steel town of Port Talbot he was the only Jew in the village.

Sophie Solomon never wanted to be a violinist.

She may have started playing at the age of two, been selected for the National Youth Orchestra, been a classical music scholar at her public school, and even been heralded as one of the most talented violinists of her generation, but all Solomon wanted to do was learn Russian.

So instead of becoming a concert violinist, she read modern history a

Miriam Elia is attempting to come up with a definition of conceptual art.

Although she has made a considerable reputation for herself as a stand-up comedian and Radio 4 comedy writer, Elia defines herself as an artist and her comedy as such too.

Her latest work, an installation entitled I Fell in Love With a Conceptual Artist… And It Was Totally Meaningless, could equally be a piece of com

If you happened, like me, to be a sports-mad Jewish teenager growing up in the early 1980s, there were very few British-Jewish sporting role models. There was, if I remember correctly, a fairly high-ranking table tennis player and one or two professional footballers slogging away in the lower leagues.

Albie Sachs has no recollection of April 7 1988 beyond the fact that he was intending to go for a run on the beach near his home in Maputo, Mozambique. He remembers leaving his apartment with some cold beers which he planned to drink as an after-run treat. He subsequently found out that as he unlocked the driver's door of his Honda there was a huge explosion.

Businessman Jason Shifrin always knew how to make money. Unfortunately, he was also an expert in how to spend it. And he spent in huge amounts - on holidays, on cars, on houses and on his friends. When there was not enough money coming in to finance his lifestyle, he borrowed to fund it. And when those debts were called in, he borrowed some more to repay the original loans.

Businessman Jason Shifrin always knew how to make money. Unfortunately, he was also an expert in how to spend it. And he spent in huge amounts - on holidays, on cars, on houses and on his friends. When there was not enough money coming in to finance his lifestyle, he borrowed to fund it. And when those debts were called in, he borrowed some more to repay the original loans.

For most film directors, making a movie is a 24/7 job. However for Yoav Factor it is more like 24/6. Despite attempting to fit the shooting of his debut feature, Reuniting The Rubins, into a "crazy" five-week schedule, come Friday evening, Factor, much to the surprise of the non-Jewish crew, would leave the set to go home for Shabbat.

Judy Ironside spends so of her much time in darkened rooms watching films, that she likes to be outside whenever she can, which is why we are sitting in a blustery Clerkenwell courtyard on what is quite a chilly October afternoon.

Ironside, the founder and executive director of the UK Jewish Film Festival, is enjoying the breeze.

Irma Kurtz greets me as I emerge from the lift outside her tiny central London flat. "I'm sorry," says the veteran Cosmopolitan agony aunt, clearly referring to the mess in the corridor caused by the refurbishment of the building. Over a cup of tea in her living room, Kurtz, slim and elegant at 76, apologises for her earlier apology.

Lynne Franks is wearing a badge which proclaims her to be an "outrageous older woman". She is chatting to me, while simultaneously briefing her PA and making herbal tea (she is currently detoxing from caffeine). She exudes energy and enthusiasm, and at 63 is bubbling with ideas.

Having a novel nominated for the Man Booker Prize could easily be described as life changing, particularly for a young writer on only her second novel.

However, Canadian author Alison Pick's book, Far to Go, had already changed her life long before the day in July when she discovered that she had made the Booker longlist.

Back in the 19th century, Theodor Herzl had a crazy dream - that one day the Jewish people would have their own homeland where they would be safe from antisemitism.

Many children of illustrious fathers hesitate before following their parent's career footsteps, but for Tony Klinger, son of film producer Michael Klinger, it happened the other way around.

Klinger decided at the age of nine that he wanted to be a film-maker and was furious that his father, who came from an engineering background, changed career in middle-age to become a cinema-owner and, later

It has been a big few weeks for 90th birthdays. First the Duke of Edinburgh hit the magic number, but amid all the celebrations he still found time to send a letter of congratulations to mark the birthday of fellow nonagenarian, Sir Sigmund Sternberg.

Like Prince Philip, Sternberg is attempting to rein in his many activities now he has entered his 10th decade. But there is a lot to rein in.

We all know what goes on in advertising agencies. They are full of executives wearing interesting eyewear in open-plan offices, playing table tennis, drinking mojitos, having barbecues, and occasionally coming up with killer ideas before going off on skiing holidays.

Is this a true picture?

Lewis Wolpert likes to keep busy. His latest book, You're Looking Very Well, has just been published and he is already working on the next one. In breaks from writing, he goes running, plays tennis once or twice a week, cycles and has a busy social life - in other words he enjoys an enviably active lifestyle. Nothing remarkable about that, except that Wolpert is 81 years old.

When conducting an interview with someone who has just written a book or a play, or embarked on a new venture, the natural starting point is ask where the idea came from.

However, in the case of American author and neuroscientist David Eagleman I know in advance what his answer will be - that he does not have a clue.