“I don’t know what’s going to happen if my music career goes wrong,” states this Tottenham born singer. Having been named “one of the most influential people in the world” by TIME Magazine and...
This British singer-songwriter was born in Colombo, Sir Lanka whilst her father was there working for Kodak. Influenced by Elton John and Kate Bush, she began her career touring with Bobby Womack but it...
In the autumn of 2012, an ITV1 series, Mrs Biggs, dramatised the life story of this headmaster’s daughter from Reigate, Surrey. In it, Sheridan Smith (pictured here with the real Mrs Biggs) portrayed a...
In his role as Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, this actor warned that “scandals” always have a habit of coming out. He graduated in Theology at Cambridge but, according to Adam Helliker of the Daily...
The sister of The Duchess of Cambridge was paid a £400,000 advance by Penguin for her first book, Celebrate. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Middleton’s view of her changed circumstances is simple:...
This talented author was born in South Africa but educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. The Drowning People, his first novel, gained him a “vast” advance and was published during his first year...
“The Delia Effect” is well known and when this English cook taught her viewers how to cook an egg in 1998, sales rocketed by 10% overnight. Worth some £23 million, she’s also endorsed Aunt...
This supposed “First Lady of Comedy” spouts lines like: “He had a bull name Floyd, but he was unemployed.” How long did it take her to come up with that? Her appearances on Radio...
“Dictatorship tempered with an amount of human decapitation” was his style as Director-General of the BBC. This Presbyterian didn’t get on with Churchill as he felt he could have done a better job himself....
Though best known for Swallows and Amazons, Ransome’s life in Russia was what makes him most fascinating. He was sued unsuccessfully by Lord Alfred Douglas over a biography of Oscar Wilde, played chess with...
Discovered by Alfred Hitchcock, this thrice married actress endured five days of prop men throwing live gulls, ravens and crows at her in her debut film, The Birds. Cary Grant told her: “I think...
A rising star in the interiors industry. Caldwell, who hails from Gastonia, North Carolina, has just completed a stint as a freelance designer at NH Design by Nicky Haslam and is now based in...
This American singer-songwriter was born in 1989 and earned $120 million between 2009 and 2012. The first thing she did on her 18th birthday was to register to vote and she’s dated Joe Jonas,...
This wildcard was the muse of Philip Treacy and discovered Sophie Dahl and Alexander McQueen. A flamboyant deal maker, Blow had a “natural sense of style” and a truly brilliant eye. She left this...
This aggressive Argentinean is truly the Joey Barton of tennis. Kicking a panel in the 2012 Queen’s final resulted in a linesman being injured and him being disqualified. He's neither a McEnroe nor a...
Best known for her chilling novel The Woman in White, this writer also did a stint on the BBC’s The Archers and runs a small publishing house named Long Barn Books. Married to the...
This Liverpudlian sex-swap pioneer was the first British person to be outed as a transsexual in 1961. Ashley endured electric shock treatment and painful surgery but this didn’t stop her becoming a successful fashion...
This reality television star commented of himself: “I may be a douche to some people, but I actually do run companies. I make a lot of money, and I’m more than capable of supporting...
Fluent in six languages, this Athenian was fashion editor of The Tatler and a columnist for The Times. Resident in London’s Knightsbridge, Matheopoulos has written a biography of King Juan Carlos of Spain and...
A descendant of the Aga Khan and the grandson of Rita Heyworth. Gregarious and witty Embiricos was passionate about flying and worked for Virgin Atlantic. His departure came far too soon.
The nephew of Pulitzer-Prize winning playright Robert Schenkkan is best known for having played The O.C.’s Ryan Attwood, a troubled teenager and outcast who is given a second chance and a life of luxury...
Raised in Morecambe, Lancashire at a seafront hotel, Worth has played Coronation Street’s Gail Platt since 1974. This former wife of the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine, Michael Angelis, lives between Cheshire and...
“Cock Roache” as he’s known (he’s supposedly bedded over 1,000 women) has been in Coronation Street since December 1960. He’s the world’s longest serving television actor and is also on the board of directors...
Steven Berkoff is a titan of the stage and a might with a pen. He’s best known for playing the darkest of characters but in reality he’s charm personified. Berkoff beat Julie Burchill in...
The stepmother of Guy Ritchie was the “grande dame” of the Kensington & Chelsea Conservative Association. This tireless campaigner encouraged diversity within the Tory party and successfully thwarted Lady Meyer’s attempts to become the...
He’s shunned Facebook and Twitter and is often to be found in the V&A library at weekends. Some say Carokis is developing an intellectual side but his day job is more typically Greek. This...
The founder of the world’s first boutique hotel moved to London in 1962 with just £10 to her name. She’s acted with Anton Rodgers in Zodiac and was in the 1969 James Bond film...
This statuesque Oxford graduate’s first novel, Sin Tropez, was a mighty success. The Independent described it as a “thrilling and scandalous read” and it got five out of five from OK! Magazine. Aita Ighodaro’s...
The youngest ever student at the Heatherly College of Arts, Peregrine Heathcote has morphed from portrait painting to a focus on something a little more Gatsby-esque. He grew up on Cheyne Walk and now...
This Liverpudlian footballer is a bad boy on the pitch and has also done a stint in the clink for common assault and affray. He provokes extreme reactions but the hatred he is subjected...
He created the “wedge bob” hairstyle and liberated women from the “tyranny of the salon.” Four times married and a Sephardi Jew, Sassoon sold his brand in 1993 to concentrate on philanthropy. The Daily...
Co-founder of Artition, a social network and marketplace for artists, dealers, collectors and institutions. This Chelsea resident is often to be found in the V&A library by day but at night he’s most...
