Faces of the week

Our regular look at some of the faces which have made the news this week. Above are LORD BROWNE OF MADINGLEY(main picture), with MADONNA, GEORGE MICHAEL, STEPHEN LAWRENCE and CHERIE BLAIR.

LORD BROWNE OF MADINGLEY

He may be a diminutive figure at 5'4" but he's a business giant. Lord Browne of Madingley, the chief executive of the major oil company BP is, according to a recent Guardian leader, "the nearest thing British business has to a rock star".

He runs one of the world's largest companies with a turnover last year of $262bn. This year, he was voted Britain's most impressive businessman for the sixth year running.

In an earlier poll, he was ranked five in the world by other global chief executives.

His announcement this week that he is to abide by his company's rules and retire at 60, in two years time, will have disappointed shareholders who have seen their dividends gushing forth like oil from BP's wells.

And it's not just down to the high price of crude. When John Browne first took charge of the company some 11 years ago, BP was a middle-ranking company dependent on dwindling reserves of oil in the North Sea and Alaska.

Now, it's the second biggest oil company in the world employing nearly 100,000 people throughout 26 countries.

Lord Browne arrives with cabinet minister Tessa Jowell at the recent wedding of Tony Blair's former aide, Anji Hunter

Stepping down in 2008 will be a wrench for someone who has worked in the company since he was a university apprentice at 18.

When he became its head in 1995, he embarked on a daring and imaginative course.

He took advantage of relatively low asset prices and gobbled up the Amoco, Arco and Castrol companies which gave BP access to many more oilfields.

Then, in 2003, BP became the first major western oil company to invest in Russia, taking a 50% stake in TNK.

It was a controversial move since critics pointed out the conniving which took place in Russian oil privatisation. It was daring too, given what has happened to companies like Yukos. But there is a lot of oil in Russia, and oil is becoming more difficult to find.

Analysts admire BP's focused approach, steering clear of heavy oil and focusing instead on deep-water drilling in places like the Gulf of Mexico and Angola.

Green credentials

Under Lord Browne, the company has also been trying to gain access to new resources in countries like Libya. A liquefied natural gas project it is pursuing could ease the current short supply of gas in North America or Europe.

Browne has also been in talks with Sinopec, China's biggest oil company and some analysts believe this will be his next big move.

Lord Browne's astuteness has not been confined to oil. He was among the first oil barons to recognise the need to diversify into renewable energy sources. Much was made of BP's re-branding exercise "Beyond Petroleum", with its bright green logo.

He has committed billions to technologies such as wind power, solar power and bioscience research. To further reduce carbon emissions, BP is also pioneering a technology whereby carbon dioxide emitted from power stations can be pumped into underground wells.

Lord Browne has given BP green credentials

Against that, the company's image has been tarnished by a number of incidents. An explosion last year at BP's Texas City refinery cost 15 lives and affected its US refining business.

The company faces a criminal investigation into an oil spill in which 270,000 gallons of crude leaked into Alaska's Prudhoe Bay.

And leaks were discovered in its Thunder Horse oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Katrina.

It's an open secret that Lord Browne doesn't want to leave BP but it would appear he has been outmanoeuvred by company chairman Peter Sutherland.

Browne had been making speeches in which he referred to compulsory retirement as a form of ageism. He points to Alan Greenspan who left the US Federal Reserve at 80.

Unmarried, Lord Browne does not have a family with whom to spend more time. He used to bring his mother along to functions until she died a few years ago.

With his record, he will not be short of offers in 2008.

He was given his "people's peerage" by Tony Blair despite being a Tory. But he dismisses those who have speculated he might turn to politics after BP, by saying "I'm absolutely hooked on business".

---

MADONNA Madonna, who has been widely pictured this week on a beach dressed in attire more associated with Lawrence of Arabia, insists on being provided with a brand-new toilet seat at every venue she plays, according to a US report. A source told the New York Daily News the seat must still be wrapped in plastic and that it must be removed straight after she leaves to stop anyone trying to sell it on eBay.

GEORGE MICHAEL Singer George Michael has insisted he feels no shame about his sex encounter with a stranger on London's Hampstead Heath. The 43-year-old star was caught emerging from the bushes with a portly van driver. The singer has a long-term partner, Kenny Goss, whom he is due to "wed" in a civil partnership ceremony this month. Michael is considering legal action against photographers for harassment. Full story

STEPHEN LAWRENCE Stephen Lawrence, victim of a racist murder in 1993, was back in the news this week when the BBC broadcast a documentary alleging that a senior detective who investigated the case was taking bribes from the father of one of the prime suspects. What's more, a former policeman jailed for corruption alleged that he had first alerted Scotland Yard about the detective six years ago but his testimony was kept from the murder inquiry. Full story

CHERIE BLAIR Cherie Blair learnt this week that she's to be granted the Freedom of the City of London. This privilege, dating from 1237, will give her the right to herd sheep over London Bridge, to go about the City with a drawn sword and to be drunk and disorderly without fear of arrest. Mrs Blair will be awarded the Freedom as Cherie Booth, her maiden name which she uses in her career as a barrister.

Written by BBC News Profiles Unit's Bob Chaundy