Faces of the week

Our regular look at some of the faces which have made the news this week. Above are Benjamin Zephaniah (main picture), with (clockwise from top left) DAMIEN HIRST, ZETA GRAFF, CLIVE WOODWARD and KIRSTY WARK.

Benjamin Zephaniah
The Rastafarian poet has followed in the footsteps of John Lennon by turning down an honour - in his case, an OBE, or Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Whereas most recipients regard the word "empire" as just a nominal anachronism, it's a word that grates with Benjamin Zephaniah.

"It reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised," he proclaims.

John Lennon, Helen Mirren and Ken Loach have also refused honours

Zephaniah grew up in the Handsworth district of Birmingham where racial prejudice was - and still is - stifling the black population in terms of education, employment and social progress.

His family had fled a violent father, and he experienced first-hand the despair of homelessness. He left school at 13, drifted into petty crime, and served time for burglary. The cloud had a silver lining.

Impressed by his poetry, one of his warders encouraged him to perform it in public. He went, as the Birmingham Post headline succinctly put it, "From Bad to Verse."

Illustrious fan club

Benjamin Zephaniah became the voice of the urban disenfranchised, railing at social and political injustice.

He didn't learn to read or write until he was 20, and is still severely dyslexic. He now lives in London's East End. His marriage to Amina, a theatre administrator, ended in divorce after 10 years.

Bloody Sunday is among his topics

Thanks to his sponsorship by the British Council, he has performed all over the world, gaining particular popularity in areas with a strong oral tradition like India, Pakistan and the townships of South Africa. Nelson Mandela is an admirer.

He is a regular guest at schools up and down the country, finding the minds of young people "much more open" than those of adults.

His poem, What Stephen Lawrence has Taught Us, crystallised his role as black spokesperson and political poet.

He became poet in residence at the chambers of Michael Mansfield QC. He has sat in on the inquiry into Bloody Sunday and on the case of Ricky Reel, the Asian student found drowned in the Thames.

Writing on the wall

Had the honours committee read his poem Bought and Sold - from the book Too Black, Too Strong - they might not have wasted their time offering him a gong.

The empire strikes back and waves,
Tamed warriors bow on parades,
When they have done what they've been told
They get their OBEs.

Even if the Blair government had replaced the word "empire" from the honours with something more modern and appropriate, it is unlikely that he would have accepted one.

He has continued to challenge the Prime Minister to clarify the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the death of his cousin, Michael Powell, in Birmingham's Thornhill police station in September.

And he has bitterly opposed Tony Blair's incursions into Afghanistan and Iraq, and berates the PM over his social policies: "You have poured the working-class dream of a fair, compassionate, caring society down the dirty drain of empire."

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Damien Hirst Conceptual artist Damien Hirst appears to have ended his simmering feud - at least for now - with his former patron, Charles Saatchi. After Saatchi bought most of Hirst's art in the early 1990s, including pickled cows, sheep and a shark, the argument began as to who made whom. A year ago, Hirst was angered at the way his work was exhibited at Saatchi's gallery on London's South Bank. "Charles Saatchi only recognises art with his wallet," said Hirst. Now Saatchi has sold back nearly a third of his collection.

Zeta Graff The Greek-born actress, Zeta Graff, is £10m richer following a divorce settlement with her former husband, Francois Graff, the joint chief executive to the Graff international diamond empire. The couple split in 2001 after a nine-year marriage that produced a son. Zeta, whose main acting claim to fame is as an alien princess in the Bruce Willis film, The Fifth Element, was jubilant. Aping the family slogan "Unmistakeably Graff", she said: "The Graff family has been unmistakeably mistaken."

Clive Woodward England's World Cup-winning rugby supremo, Clive Woodward, returned home in glory following his team's victory in Australia. Despite much media speculation that he might leave his job, the man tipped to become Sir Clive in the New Year's Honours says that he will not be kicking his job into touch just yet. "I've recently signed a new contract with the Rugby Football Union and I'm looking forward to seeing that through." That sweet chariot is set to swing low for some time to come. Full story

Kirsty Wark While Scots have a reputation for keeping a tight hold on their sporrans, Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark has shown they're sometimes willing to splash someone else's cash. A member of the panel which chose a Catalan architect to design a new Scottish Parliament building, Ms Wark has told an inquiry they were looking for "someone with a great vision". With completion two years behind schedule, the bill will exceed £400m - eight times the original estimate. Full story

Compiled by BBC News Profiles Unit's Bob Chaundy