SAGA — Doing things properly

The Prime Minister does it — so does Mr Cameron. Much credit goes to Sir Andrew, whose organisation has produced statistics that the Government ridiculed but are now accepted as being nearer to the truth than their own. Although he is a distinguished former British ambassador, Sir Andrew was smeared as a fanatical racist. He now stands out as the foremost independent expert whose statistics told the truth that had been concealed from the British people.

He has that rare quality these days, a stiff upper lip. He has African and English blood and is a role model for all youngsters of whatever origin.

When that was defeated in the French and Dutch referendums and the new European Treaty was negotiated, she was sufficiently knowledgeable and brave to defy the Government and her party to say there was really no difference between the two.

He is not pushed around by the whips. He has a mind of his own. He stands up for Parliament and for the standards we should expect of members. He was one of those who opposed the Bill to prevent people from knowing how much MPs claim for expenses, which lost him friends at Westminster but not elsewhere. While Shepherd is there it will not be easy for MPs to skive, fail to hold Ministers to account or fix cosy deals for each other.

He has made a stand on abortion, marriage, the family and multiculturalism. He believes the tolerant, peaceable, law–abiding society which derived from Christianity is wandering aimlessly without the road map of conduct which has guided it for centuries. He is brave enough to stand up for his beliefs. We must be glad that he is ready to lead where too many lack the courage to follow.

She has served on the Arts Council and as a governor of the BBC. More remarkably, she helped to start up a programme called Escape Artists, taking dance and drama into UK prisons. She is one of the most passionate and effective advocates for the arts.

She set up Eureka!, the child-focused science centre in Halifax, and education centres in most of the major museums in the UK. Her Clore Leadership Programme trains and develops future leaders in the arts and, in December 2007, her blueprint was launched for a similar scheme creating leaders for the whole of the voluntary sector.

He has transformed the British Museum into a place where the whole of human history, tradition and culture comes together, freely available to the whole world, in one place. He has used the museum to develop real partnership and exchange — as witness his achievement last year, of bringing the remarkable new exhibition of the Chinese Terracotta Warriors to London.

He even appeared in 10 episodes of Coronation Street, because he loves the show. Unafraid to talk publicly about being gay, his courage, his integrity and his sheer professionalism have made him much loved and much admired. Now he is sweeping the world with the strength of his portrayal of King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Working now in centres ranging from London, Oxford and Nottingham to Newcastle, the productions regularly rate five–star reviews from the critics. High standards, and real engagement from people who have been sleeping rough or in hostels, are the keys to success. And in the process the homeless people themselves find their lives transformed.

It's an awesome, inspiring example of how to blend cutting–edge technology and design with the very best of Victorian architecture. Architect Lansley and Project Director Mike Luddy (45), undertook the work while the station kept running — like changing a car tyre while driving.

His Surrey Space Centre makes small, cheap satellites for such things as GPS and monitoring of the Earth. The professor says such technology is now cheap enough for Britain to send an unmanned satellite to explore the moon.

He is the brilliant Briton who in 1991 invented the "internet–based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing" — the world wide web. His vision was to create a collaborative space where information could be shared. It could have given him Bill Gates–style wealth but, remarkably, he donated his invention to the world "for the good of mankind".

Dr Macdonald is not only passionate about her subject area but believes that unless parents understand the importance of science, they will never encourage enough children to make it their career. She spreads the word through coffee mornings: "Science with Coffee and Hobnobs". And last year she was honoured for the most successful lecture yet for GCSE students, "Fantastic Plastic". So far, 45,000 teenagers have been inspired by it.

Her non–profit organisation last year completed the largest straw–bale building in Europe — a fine-art auction house near Stansted — as well as magnificent offices for the National Trust. The buildings she makes are low–impact, eco–friendly, warm and beautiful.

She managed to combine family life with a vigorous professional career and was wise enough to pace herself — avoiding management responsibilities while her children were young. Later, her career soared. Totally professional, unfailingly good to work with, she will also be the Master (yes Master!) of the City IT Livery Company this year.

It is the first area in the world to have a national strategy for autism. Hugh developed this and launched the Celtic Partnership for Autism, also involving Scotland and Ireland — North and South — in 2007. The charity is involved in strategic planning at all levels and draws upon the experience of both the public and the independent sector.

This changed his life and he is now helping Africa's prisoners, people who often have no one to turn to. He is founder and Director of the African Prisons Project, providing care and welfare to children and adults imprisoned there.

This helps others to deal, emotionally, with similar problems. He also aims to educate the public to accept everyone for what they are, not for what they look like. I admire James enormously for his inner beauty.

Programme Director of Forum for the Future, his activist credentials have taken the environmental movement with him, even though many in that movement regard big business as their traditional enemy.

In 2005 she set up Road Block, a network of local community groups fighting road schemes. (She also threw a banana pie at motoring icon Jeremy Clarkson, but let that pass.) Road Block has become part of the Campaign for Better Transport. From direct protest eco–activist she has become a highly knowledgeable and effective mainstream campaigner on transport's contribution to climate change.

He set up the first organic vegetable box scheme because of his frustration with the sheer wastefulness of conventional vegetable selling. The winner of many awards, I admire him for taking his ideas mainstream without losing his idealistic way. Watson has shown that it is possible to be both principled and successful.

Today, it has some 20,000 customers. Recognising that climate change is a threat, and that the way we use energy is the cause of it, the company supplies electricity from wind, small–scale hydro and solar–power generators all over Britain. She has demonstrated simple and effective ways for individuals and businesses to cut their carbon footprints.

She brought sustainable products and concern for the producer to the high street and campaigned for green issues for years before it became fashionable. She inspired millions of people and today almost every company claims to have green credentials — Roddick was living that claim decades ago.

Their elegant Crockatt & Powell shop in London's Waterloo combines an old–school feel with a discerning, eclectic selection of books. And it's working. In July, for instance, with the new Harry Potter novel on sale for a fiver in Asda, Crockatt & Powell were wise (and brave) enough to ask for the full £17.99 — donating £9 to a school for each copy. They are now planning a second branch in west London. Good luck to them.

In her acceptance speech, she rebuked the digital generation who neglect reading and serious discussion: "We never thought to ask, how will our lives, our way of thinking, be changed by the internet, which has seduced a whole generation with its inanities."

But he became the publishing industry's white knight in 2007 when he rescued Borders and Books Etc, the UK bookshop chain put up for sale by its US parent group. Johnson passionately believes that books have a buoyant future, and that Borders can keep drawing in customers with them. His outspoken style should see sparks fly.

She rose to the challenge magnificently, tying together the myriad strands of the previous books in a page–turning crescendo. Children, adults and reviewers alike were entranced. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows shattered all sales records; and the full series has now shifted 375 million copies. To top it all off, in December she auctioned a handcrafted copy of a spin–off collection of fairytales, raising £1.95 million for her charity.

This is not eco–opportunism — Ellingham is on the advisory board of the charity Cool Earth, helping save tracts of ancient South American rainforest, and he genuinely believes books can make a difference in the fight against climate change and poverty.

Make it of the right "metamaterial" — using nano–technology — and it will bend light around an object so that you seem to be looking through it. It sounds like something from Star Trek; but is sufficiently kosher for the Ministry of Defence to be taking an interest.

The first phase is planned to be completed by 2010. Arup's payments will help to fund a mini–hydro renewable energy project in China. This is how we shall have to live in the future if our planet is still to support us.

His discovery of methods to grow the cells from mouse embryos led not only to Dolly, the cloned sheep, but to efforts to grow human embryonic stem cells for new treatments.

She has also pushed through the £24 million renovation of one of the greatest science treasures, the Royal Institution, where the annual Christmas Lectures have since 1826 introduced celebrated scientists to young audiences.

Sir Brian is an expert on storms, and on how small local changes in weather lead to major global events.

Soon to become the first female president of the Institute of Physics, she probably discovered pulsars (though her boss was awarded the Nobel Prize).

But more importantly, and wisely, she is co–founder of the History and Policy group, which urges politicians to learn from historians to save them from repeating past mistakes. We can but hope, perhaps forlornly, that she succeeds. However, the fact that Gordon Brown, who is shaping up to be the worst Prime Minister we have had in the past 50 years, is a trained historian with a PhD, does raise a question mark over the whole enterprise.

They include touching their caps to teachers, taking their hands out of their pockets when singing hymns or the National Anthem, and opening doors for the elderly. Extraordinary, and sad, that teaching ordinary politeness should count as wisdom; not long ago every headmaster and headmistress would do so as a matter of course.

A voice from within the BBC protesting against "dumbing down", and calling for a return to Lord Reith's old values of informing, educating, and entertaining is welcome to those who watch and to those, like me, who try to do just that in the programmes we make.

I choose her for the wise manner in which she received the news of her prize — from reporters, when she was returning from hospital with her son. "To celebrate, I would have to go out and buy champagne," she said. "But I am going to bed." Wisdom indeed.