It used to be the Establishment bible chronicling the details of archbishops peers

It used to be the Establishment bible, chronicling the details of archbishops, peers and dons. But as the 149th edition of Who’s Who is published next month, the great and the good have been joined by the naff. In company with the first female chaplain to the Queen and the president of China, the latest list of Britain’s creme de la creme includes record producer Pete Waterman and comedians Ruby Wax and Alexei Sayle.
While the members of the Establishment featured in the latest edition reveal all the traits one would expect of their class – Oxbridge education, membership of clubs such as the Reform and the Carlton – the lives of celebrities are a mixture of the unexpected and the banal.Paul James Martin – or, as he is better known, Paul Merton – makes his first appearance, revealing that his job before he became a comic was that of a civil servant at the Department of Employment. And Richard Curtis, writer of television’s Not the Nine O’clock News, Blackadder and the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, lists his recreations as “too much TV, too many films and too much pop music”, while comedian Alexei Sayle turns out to be an honorary professor of Thames Valley University.For some of the entrants, their pastimes prove revealing. Those who expect sensations from the famously fiery chef Marco Pierre White can take comfort from the fact that one of his favourite activities is bird-watching.

But some of the recreations mentioned in the 1997 edition, gleaned from the entry forms every person fills in, prove more bizarre. They include “sharpening pencils and horizontal reflection” from the editor of The Lancet, Lucinda Lambton’s “talking to dogs”, and “ice-cream” for William Kay, city editor of the Mail on Sunday.Entries from more traditional occupations are dominated by women this year, including the novelist Pat Barker, who won the 1995 Booker Prize, and sculptor Rachel Whiteread, who won the 1993 Turner Prize.The form of Who’s Who, which is due to be published on 9 January, has changed little since 1897 when it was remodelled. The principles laid down when Adam and Charles Black took it over were that there should be a wider choice of subjects than in existing reference books, no one should be able to purchase an entry, there should be no subscription and the book should always be sold at a net price through the booksellers (it was first sold at 3s 6d – this year it will set you back pounds 98).Getting into Who’s Who is about as secretive as selecting the next pope Or more so. At least everyone knows who the cardinals are making the choice in the Vatican as the world waits for the white smoke to rise.The Who’s Who selection board, in marked contrast, is a fiercely guarded secret “to keep them from being pressurised by those desperate to get a mention”, according to a Who’s Who spokeswoman. A privileged few get in automatically – archbishops, bishops, MPs, senior civil servants, national newspaper editors, Oxford and Cambridge professors and peers. Once you are in, no matter how obscure you may become, you are in until you die (when you are transferred to Who Was Who). Even those who have been convicted of criminal offences retain their entry.

Lord Lucan will also remain listed until he is formally declared dead.Of those approached, it is a select few who have refused to join. The reclusive Barclay twins, property tycoons, have refused entry on three successive years and tycoon Tiny Rowland has always turned down the offer, too.. The art of traditional letter writing is being lost, usurped by the fax, the telephone, e-mail and the Internet. The weekend after Christmas would once have been a time when people across the country sat down to write thank-you letters for gifts and hospitality Not any more. Instead of investing care and time in a lengthy letter, people opt for a quick chat by phone, or a message sent by electronic media. Even those who do put pen to paper often opt for a short greetings card. Almost half the post classed as social mail by the Royal Mail consists of cards.
The death of the letter is evident in the falling sales of writing paper.

So low are sales that City analysts and specialist stationery trade publications say that records are no longer kept.Even one of the paper world’s leading experts admits that he has swapped the pen for the keyboard. Basha Nazir, chief consultant and manager at the Paper Industry Research Association, said: “I stopped writing myself and communicate with a family group of 20 around the world with e-mail. The messages we send are very different from letter composition and are much shorter and more factual.”The fall in letter writing is not only something that affects paper manufacturers. Psychologists and educationalists warn that schoolchildren may lose both the physical and literary skills of writing as technology takes over from the pen.