Local names join elite ranks of Who's Who

The boss of Wolverhampton University and a Walsall-born QC are among the local names featured in the 2012 edition of Who's Who.

A total of 1,000 new names are featured in the latest edition, which lists the biographies of more than 30,000 influential people from the UK and beyond.

Wolverhampton University vice-chancellor Geoff Layer, aged 56, is listed, as is Britain's Walsall-born High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Jacqueline Barson, 52.

Professor Michael Gunn, aged 55,the Wolverhampton-born vice chancellor of Staffordshire University is included, with Richard Hawkes, 47, another Wolverhampton boy who is chief executive of the SCOPE charity.

Coseley's Manor Primary School headteacher Anita Cliff, 47, is mentioned, as is Wolverhampton's Ian Townend, 57, research director at HR Wallingford Ltd.

Catherine Wood, 48,a Walsall-born QC and product of Queen Mary's High School is another local name to make the grade.

They are joined by other first-timers including England football manager Fabio Capello, footballer John Terry, and comedian Hugh Dennis.

Everyone included is invited to compile his or her own entry. The late novelist Dame Barbara Cartland took 143 lines, but the entries of the Wolverhampton and Walsall personalities are comparatively brief.

Mr Layer explains his life in just 12 lines, one more than the entry of Prime Minister David Cameron.