7. Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Trust

Sir Michael Lyons was on the fast track to success from the moment when ,as a schoolboy, he began helping his father, who was employed as a greyhound starter at an East London dog track.

The early experience made him determined to better himself through eduction.

He attended Stratford Grammar School in the East End, and at the age of 20, began working as a market trader while completing his education at Middlesex University and the University of London.

After an early career as a public sector economist, he began a life-long relationship with the Midlands by taking a position as a lecturer at Nottingham University. By 1980 he had become a Labour member of Birmingham City Council.

By 1994, Michael Lyons had reached the top of the local government tree by becoming chief executive of Birmingham City Council, Europe's largest local authority. He was knighted in 2000 for services to local government and promptly let it be known he wished to be called Sir Michael rather than Sir Mick - a move many interpreted as a desire to bring a little more gravitas to the Lyons brand.

When he left the city council, at the age of 51 after seven years at the top, Sir Michael said he wanted to put together a portfolio of jobs.

He has certainly done that. During the past six years he has been Professor of Public Policy at Birmingham University and chairman of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has been acting chairman of the Audit Commission and a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Sir Michael is a non-executive director of MouchelParkman plc, Wragge & Co, and SQW.

He came to national notice after being asked by Gordon Brown to preside over inquiries into local authority funding and the future of local government. Controversial recommendations in the Lyons Report included allowing councils to levy a tourist tax and a supplementary business rate and the introduction of new council tax bands.

With the ink hardly dry on his report, Sir Michael's next career move was under way. It was announced in May that he was to be the first chairman of the new BBC Trust, with a remit to set out the future of the corporation as a news and public service broadcaster, while representing the views of licence-fee payers and BBC staff.

Since then he has had to deal with rows over premium-rate phone lines for interactive shows, and the role of the regions in the BBC's structure.

On his appointment as BBC chairman,Sir Michael resigned as a Labour Party member.

He is married with three grown-up children and lives in Sutton Coldfield.