London

100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1

New at 17: Changing Islam in the UK, Catherine Hossain

Down from 9
20 Roman Abramovich
Football moneybags
Why? Has dramatically tilted the balance of power in world football by granting manager Jose Mourinho his every wish.
The bare facts The world’s eleventh richest person (up from 21st a year ago) with a fortune of $18.2 billion – and willing to pump in whatever’s needed to take Chelsea to the top.
Did you know? His 440-acre estate in Sussex was previously owned by King Hussein and has stabling for 100 horses, two polo pitches, a clay pigeon shoot, a rifle range and a go-kart track. Feature continues

Down from 7
19 Jane Shepherdson
Topgirl going solo
Why? She resigned as brand director of Topshop in early October, just after it was announced that Kate Moss would be designing a range. It’s rumoured that Stuart Rose, MD of Marks & Spencer, has been on the phone.
The bare facts She landed the job as brand director after taking a gamble on a massive batch of tank tops in the mid-1990s. They sold 50,000 a week.

New entry
18 Prof John Oxford
Virus killer
Why? As professor of virology at Barts and a world-leading expert on infectious diseases, Oxford is the expert who will be called upon if London is hit by an influenza outbreak. He has warned that preparations must start now if we are to manage a pandemic.
The bare facts He worked under Sir Charles Stuart-Harris, who in 1933 became the first person to isolate the influenza virus. Together with Professor Graeme Laver, his research formed the basis for the Tamiflu vaccine.

New entry
17 Catherine Hossain
Chaning Islam in the UK
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) has become a growing force among young Muslims disenchanted with more orthodox aspects of their communities. One of its main campaigns has been for women to be able to pray in mosques with men. It also ran vocal campaigns to get...read more

New entry
16 Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller
Chief spook
Why? As the head of MI5, the UK’s internal security service, Manningham-Buller’s decisions on which of our civil liberties to revoke are all that stand between London and TOTAL APOCALYPTIC JIHAD MELTDOWN!
The bare facts Manningham-Buller joined the secret service after leaving Oxford University in 1974 and started working in counter-terrorism in 1992. She succeeded Sir Stephen Lander as director general in 2002, becoming the second woman to hold the position.
In her own words ‘The world has changed and there needs to be a debate on whether some erosion of what we all value may be necessary to improve the chances of our citizens not being blown apart as they go about their daily lives.

New entry
15 Justine Simons
Culture commissar
Why? Simons, 36, is Mayor Ken’s cultural strategy manager, helping him foster connections with the film, design and fashion industries. She oversees the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Programme and is currently working with Thomas Schutte, a sculpture by whom will replace Marc Quinn’s ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’ next year.
The bare facts Simons was born in Stoke-on-Trent but has lived in London for the past 15 years. For the first ten she worked in the field of contemporary dance, producing work and running venues.
Did you know? Her pet dog Dennis appeared on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe, where he had his own special kennel constructed backstage.

Jude Kelly

New entry
14 Jude Kelly
South side sensation
Why? Things may appear to have been quiet on the South Bank with the Royal Festival Hall deep into its two-year refurbishment, but behind the scenes artistic director Kelly has been appointing a crack team of artists and administrators who will turn heads when the arts complex reopens in June next year.
The bare facts Kelly, 52, made her name in the arts world as artistic director of West Yorkshire Playhouse. Since moving to London in 2002 she created theatre group Metal to devise new work and championed the creative and educational strand of London’s successful Olympics bid.
Did you know? To mark the reopening of the RFH, and his first full-scale London show, sculptor Antony Gormley will create 32 life-size figures to place on top of buildings around the South Bank, all looking in towards the Hayward Gallery.

The de Menezes family

New entry
13 The de Menezes family
Jean Charles' relatives fight back
Since Jean Charles de Menezes was mistakenly shot by Metropolitan Police officers at Stockwell tube on Friday July 22 2005, his family has fought to bring those responsible to justice. But this year has been tough. In July, the Crown Prosecution Service charged the Met under health and safety legislation, which meant no individual could be held responsible for the crime. Then in September...read more

New entry
12 Alex Poots
Premier programmer
Why? Wunderkind arts curator who specialises in headline-grabbing projects, such as the live debut of Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz, the Barbican’s ‘Elektronic’, and ENO’s ‘Gaddafi: A Living Myth’.
The bare facts A trumpeter who played with Pulp and It’s Immaterial, Edinburgh-born Poots later moved into programming festivals.

New entry
11 Alex Williams
Bin man
Why? This year DEFRA announced Camden had achieved the highest recycling rate in London in 2004-05: 21.18 per cent of its waste is recycled. Williams, 40, assistant director of culture and environment at Camden Council, is responsible for the borough’s ‘street management’.
The bare facts Each household throws away over a tonne of waste each year. Only 14.5 per cent of UK bin contents are recycled or composted.

100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1