Passage: Arthur Hailey, 84

British author Arthur Hailey, whose novels sold 170 million copies around the world, has died. He was the author of several bestsellers that became blockbuster movies, like Airport and Hotel. Born in England, in 1920 as the only child of working class parents, Hailey began writing after World War II, when a meal served on a DC-4 flight triggered a story idea -- he wondered what would happen if the flight crew went down with food poisoning and penned his first successful story, "Flight Into Danger." During his career, he chiseled out just 600 words a day, and published books in 38 languages in 40 countries. "I have never been able to write quickly or easily," he once said. "I am too self-critical for that. I am never satisfied."
-- Reuters