The media focus on Britain’s Royal Uterus this week was a valuable reminder of how tiresome fame can be, and how detached from extraordinariness it can be. Kate and Wills seem like perfectly nice people, but that was an awful lot of fanfare for a young couple who had a baby and drove away from the hospital in a station wagon.

This week, as an antidote, here are five profiles of interesting people you've probably never heard of, ready to read here on TMN or in an e-book you can export to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, etc.