JK Rowling

JK has sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, yet single mother Joanne Kathleen Rowling almost gave up on her first novel Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone when it was rejected by around a dozen publishers before British publishing house Bloomsbury paid just £2500 (around $4500) for the manuscript. The Harry Potter series has since been translated into 67 languages and Rowling’s seventh instalment, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, sold 11 million copies in its first 24 hours.

Martin Scorsese

It took 26 years, six best director and two best screenplay nominations before the American film director took the Oscar for best director in 2007 for his film The Departed. He received the award to a standing ovation before saying: “Could you double-check the envelope?”

Coco Chanel

Genius she may have been, but Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was 30 when she opened her first fashion boutique and 42 when she created the “little black dress” – the design classic which would cement her reputation as the all-time great couturier.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Californian rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers shot to fame in 1991 with their classic album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. At the time, the band seemed to burst on to the music scene – new, fresh and overnight. In fact, they’d been playing backwoods LA clubs for almost 10 years and their first album, released in 1984, received scant exposure beyond college radio stations. Since then, the band has gone on to win multiple Grammys and sell over 50 million albums.

Tina Fey

She makes it look so effortless, but it has taken more than 10 years of hard graft as a comedy writer, one NBC show (30 Rock) and that impersonation of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palm to turn plain old Elizabeth Stamatina Fey into the 39-year-old white-hot-comedy-icon she is today.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:  If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?