An insight into the character of an influential figure making news headlines
Claire Bolderson profiles Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean Marie Le Pen who now leads the party that her father founded, the Front National. She has a different style to her father - more smiles than snarls - but are her political views as divisive and controversial as his? A recent opinion poll shows that support for Marine Le Pen is overtaking support for President Sarkozy and she may do very well at the next presidential election in 2012.
He's a popular figure in the Conservative Party and a key player in the Coalition, but this week the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, was criticised after a bungled SAS mission into Libya. The Prime Minister has defended him, but others are asking whether Hague still has a passion for politics at the highest level. As Tory leader in 2001, he led his party to a crushing defeat and announced his resignation the day after the election. Over the next few years, he enjoyed a rise in popularity, prob...
As Paris Fashion week gets underway, one of its most successful designers is missing from the show. Chris Bowlby looks at the life and career of John Galliano, who was sacked this week by fashion house Dior after allegedly making anti-Semitic comments.
Mary Ann Sieghart explores the life and career of Lord Patten, the Conservative peer who has achieved a number of high profile posts in a long political career. A former speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher, he became a 'One Nation' Conservative, serving in a number of ministerial roles before accepting the Chairmanship of the party in difficult political times. He steered his party to victory in the 1992 general election but lost his own seat in the process. He was quickly installed as the Govern...
"I have seen God. He bats at No 4 for India in Tests". Rob Bonnet profiles Sachin Tendulkar, possibly the most worshipped cricketer in the world. He has broken records galore in Test and One-day international cricket. In India he's revered more than Bollywood stars and politicians. And his name and face are used to promote eveything from luxury cars to soft drinks. Yet off the field he is one of the most reclusive players. As the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 gets underway in Bangladesh, India and ...
Arianna Huffington has had a rich and prolific career. A best selling author and TV presenter, her political transformation saw her first stand as a Republican candidate before switching to the Democrats, as she sought high public office. After setting up the highly sucessful internet newspaper, The Huffington Post, which championed "citizen journalism", this week she agreed a buyout by media giants AOL. But who is Arianna Huffington and what makes her tick? In this week's Profile, Emma Jane Kir...
What makes Craig Oliver the best choice for David Cameron's Director of Communications? Jane Dodge profiles the career TV journalist taking over at the Number 10 press office.
Gerry Northam profiles Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, co-chair of the Conservative party and the first Muslim government cabinet minister. Producer: Gail Champion.
James Silver profiles Andy Coulson, who has resigned as David Cameron's Director of Communications, blaming coverage of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
As Colin Firth is honoured with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Jonathan Maitland profiles the actor hotly tipped to receive an Oscar for his performance in The King's Speech. Colin Firth is famous for his eclectic roles and campaigning zeal. He first came to prominence in the BBC adaption of Pride & Prejudice. He played Mr Darcy, a performance he claims never to have watched in full. But his break was as a public schoolboy in Another Country. His real life was very different, he went to...
Profile this week is Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg. With new investment by Goldman Sachs, the company is now valued at 50 billion dollars. But how much do we know about the man behind it all? Is he really the character portrayed in recent film, The Social Network? And what next for the 26-year-old now thought to be the world's youngest billionaire? Reporter: Morland Sanders Producer: Rob Cave.
The royal wedding this year will bring Prince William back to Westminster Abbey, the place where he first attracted global attention as the son mourning his mother's tragic death. Since then he has had to negotiate his relations with the Spencer and Windsor families, and follow the carefully constructed training of the man likely to be king. His time as a student, professional and military careers have all been steps on this path. So how difficult an inheritance has this been? And what does the ...
The numbers are staggering: more than 1 billion music video online hits, record sales of more than 50 million, number 7 on the Forbes List of the world's 100 most influential women. Not bad at all for 24 year old Stefani Germanotta, a girl from New York's Lower East Side whom the world now knows as Lady Gaga. In this week's Christmas day Profile, Stephen Smith follows Germanotta's story from rebellious, classically trained pianist to pop's newest and hottest icon.
Glenn Beck, the provocative tv and radio talk show host, represents the polarised politics of American media. Those who like him describe him as an 'inspiration' and those that don't call him 'toxic'. His TV show on Fox News averages a daily audience of two million viewers. Beck doesn't shy away from controversy, recently describing progressivism as "the cancer in America eating our Constitution" and referring to President Obama as having "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white cultu...
Mary Ann Sieghart profiles Iain Duncan Smith whose Work and Pensions Department will be hit during next week's Spending Review. His proposed welfare reforms have been described as 'the biggest since the war-time work of Beveridge' and a white paper is expected after the Spending Review. Iain Duncan Smith started out briefly in industry after leaving the army where he served twice in Northern Ireland. His father was a famous World War II flying ace & his mother a ballerina. In the 1990s, he w...
For this week's BBC Radio 4 Profile, Mary Ann Sieghart focuses on Yvette Cooper, recently announced as the new Shadow Foreign Secretary. Yvette Cooper became an MP in 1997 and became politically close to Gordon Brown. She's held a number of Ministerial roles, introducing sometimes controversial legislation and facing controversy herself during the MPs' expenses investigation. She has juggled high profile jobs with bringing up three young children and she won this week's shadow cabinet elections ...
Brazilians go to the polls this weekend, to elect a new president, replacing the charismatic Lula da Silva. And, with Dilma Rousseff far ahead in the polls, it looks like the country could get its first female leader. It's been an amazing journey for Rousseff, the daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant. In the 1960's, she joined a revolutionary urban guerrilla group after the military coup, and was imprisoned and tortured. She is now seen as Lula's successor, nicknamed 'The Iron Lady', though there a...
Eric Daniels, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, Britain's biggest retail bank, who announced this week that he will retire in 12 months with an estimated £13 million pay off package. He's the last survivor of the big banking beasts - Fred "the Shred" Goodwin and co - who were at the helm when the banking crisis struck. Daniels is still being pursued by angry shareholders who saw their stake plummet after he presided over the Lloyds takeover of HBOS. A heavy smoking, cricket-loving American, of Chine...
Jonathan Maitland profiles Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the coalition government and Liberal Democrat who will wield the axe as the UK enters a new age of austerity. Alexander emerged from a background in communications and a short career as a politician --he was first elected to a Highlands seat in 2005 --to become Treasury Chief Secretary. It is a post that many commentators say makes Danny Alexander the third most powerful man in government, after the Prime Minister and...
John Yates, the Assistant Commissioner at the centre of the storm about the Metropolitan Police's investigation into celebrity phone hacking at the News of the World, under the editorship of Andy Coulson, now the Prime Minister's chief spin doctor. Yates is a high flyer and no stranger to high profile and controversial cases. He led the perjury case against Lord Archer, the 'cash for honours' investigation, was involved in the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. In 2005 he travelled to Brazil to meet the ...
Who is Pope Benedict XVI? Ahead of his visit to the UK in September, former BBC religious affairs correspondent Jane Little delves into his background to paint a portrait of a man many people know little about. The Catholic Church is facing one of its biggest challenges in recent history as one sexual abuse scandal after another emerges in countries from Ireland to Germany to the US. Critics are accusing the Church of cover-ups and are angry that the Pope has failed to issue an apology. Some obs...
