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Ave Maria Maria Shriver: Clever, beautiful and a member of America's premier Deomcrat clan, the outspoken niece of JFK and Bobby Kennedy is not likely to play the silent First Lady to the Californian governorship of her Republican husband, Arnold Shwarzenegger |
Danger mouth
Germaine Greer: She broke taboos and changed the lives of a whole generation of women with The Female Eunuch. A respected academic, she has written about art, literature, abortion and infertility, and the menopause. Now she's turned her gaze to pretty boys.
Spinning Jenny
Jennifer Lopez: The actress and singer has been vilified over her on-off wedding to Ben Affleck. But is she really the demanding diva who orered Madame Tussaud's to shave 10lbs off her waxwork backside or simply a victim of racial prejudice? By Lawrence Donegan.
Ideas man
Labour's new head of policy keeps a low profile but you will be familiar with his ideas. As head of the think tank, IPPR, he dreamed up baby bonds and public-private partnerships. A party activist, he's used to being abrasive when necessary, and thinking independently. How will that go down at Number 10? David Rowan profiles Matthew Taylor.
The cat's whiskers
Jenny Abramsky: It's not Auntie Beeb any more, it's the nation's favourite network. As last week's figures show, BBC radio is now drawing in an as many listeners as it ever has, and it's all down to Jenny Abramsky. Profile by Ben Summerskill.
Mutha of invention
Sacha Baron Cohen: He swore on Radio 1 and sang with Shaggy at the Brit Awards. He's got a film out and Madonna has been round to see his mum. But who exactly is the man behind Ali G? Profile by Jay Rayner
Illusions of grandeur
David Blaine: America's hippest magician is about to be locked in a transparent box to spend 44 days suspended above the Thames. Is it a stunt too far for the man who made his name on the streets of New York?
Squeaky queen
From up-town girl to seaside retirement, Julie Burchill, the vitriolic Empress of Grub Street, has never been long out of the public eye - and she's got a West End play to prove it.
Arriving now, Comrade Bob
Bob Crow has been described as the toughest of the new trade unionists. Now, as their fight with the train operators intensifies, the railworkers have elected the Marxist Millwall supporter to lead them. Profile by Oliver Morgan.
Germany's conscience
Günter Grass: The combative author of The Tin Drum has long been Germany's left-wing conscience, berating those who would forget its bloody past. Yet his latest book throws a warmer eye on the sufferings of his countrymen in the Second World War :
Making it all look easy
Stelios Haji-Ioannou: Nobody thought a brash, orange-liveried airline operating out of Luton would make it. But it did. Now easyJet's founder is moving on. Look out for 20p cinema tickets and £5 hotel rooms. Profile by Joanna Walters.
Master of the Universe
Stephen Hawking can roam the cosmos in his mind, but his private life is a shambles. Now he thinks Earth is doomed and the future for mankind is in space. Profile by Robin McKie.
Prize fighter
Lisa Jardine: The Booker Prize's new sponsors want to let American authors enter, but they've come up against a formidable enemy in this year's chair
The time lord
Stephen Jay Gould: Fellow Darwinists hate his talent for self-publicity while creationists fear his ability to enthuse millions about evolution. The climax of his life's work secures his place in the history of science. Profile by Robin McKie.
Of human bondage
Pope John Paul II may be seen by millions as God's representative on Earth but as Karol Wojtyla he is a man trapped in an increasingly frail body. So will he be the first Pope for more than 700 years to step down? Profile by Philip Willan.
Knight for a queen
Paul McCartney: Too mercurial to be an institution, the world's most famous songwriter grasps life with both hands. This week he remarries, but first there's that gig at the Palace.
Paper tiger
Andrew Neill: He's been a media star for more than 20 years, welding the Sunday Times to Thatcherism, then heading a publishing empire... and dating Miss India. But will his garrulous way finally get the better of him?
When I am king, dilly, dilly...
Camilla Parker Bowles. The Church of England has agreed to let divorcees remarry in church, so now the Prince of Wales and his mistress are free to tie the knot. 'Friends' say they don't want to... but we've heard that kind of thing before.
Hah!
Anybody trying to understand the appeal of Jeremy Paxman, Newsnight 's inquisitor-in-chief, could do worse than study the BBC log book, which records the thoughts of viewers who phone in to express opinions on that day's programming.
Dæmon geezer
Philip Pullman has created a world inspired by Milton and Blake that is populated by gay angels with a liking for Kendal Mint Cake, nice witches and a delicious villain not a million miles away from Mrs Thatcher. Is this really kids' stuff? Profile by Robert McCrum.
Marathon woman
Paula Radcliffe: With a beaming smile masking her nervousness, the new 5,000-metre Commonwealth gold medallist is one of the nicest people you could meet, while on the track she is one of the finest distance runners in the history of women's athletics.
The dam buster
Arundhati Roy. The tiny winner of the Booker prize seems to provoke envy among fellow writers. Nor has it abated since she gave up fiction to challenge the might of the Indian state. Profile by Luke Harding.
Taking the cricket test
The man charged with fostering harmonious race relations has been accused by young black Britons of being too conciliatory towards Government. So how did this Gurbux Singh find himself on the wrong side of the law?
A copper's copper
John Stevens. The high flying chief of the Met has just received 'cautions' from both the Home Secretary and the judge in the Damilola trial. Can he ride the storm of David Blunkett's latest crusade?. Profile by David Rose.
The Burma star
Aung Sung Suu Kyi: After years of house arrest, will 'The Lady' of Burma finally be allowed to see her fellow countrymen, and perhaps lead them to the light. By Luke Harding
Talent will out
Denzel Washington. Three times he has been nominated for the Oscar for best actor and if he fails to win this time, Hollywood's critics will have a field day. But win or lose, cinema's leading black star will turn in an exemplary performance: Denzel Washington . Profile by Akin Ojumu.
The trend spotter
Irvine Welsh: In the Nineties he hit a vein with Trainspotting, a tale of drugs, toilets, violence and larceny which foul-mouthed its way into Booker Prize contention. His new book may share the same characters, but this time it's all about pornography.
Troublesome priest?
Rowan Williams, front-runner in the Archbishop of Canterbury stakes, appears the perfect New Labour cleric: an Anglo-Catholic traditionalist who backs gay and women priests. Profile by Stephen Pritchard.
None so high
Lord Woolf: A champion of human rights, he wants to lock up dangerous people before they commit a crime. Should he heed Denning's warning that the law is above even the highest in the land?
