Faces of the week

Our regular look at some of the names which have made the news this week. Above are SOL KERZNER (main picture), with KIRI TE KANAWA, ROY OF THE ROVERS, SEGOLENE ROYALE and WILLIE WALSH.

SOL KERZNER

The shock news that Manchester has won the race to provide the site for the UK's first "super casino" has turned the spotlight on South African Sol Kerzner.

He is the man whose company is being tipped as the preferred bidder to run the new £260m facility.

Manchester awarded a provisional contract to Kerzner International back in 2004. Under the Gambling Act the winning council has to run a new tendering process to decide which companies will develop and operate the casino but already, some potential competitors have said they believe Kerzner is too well entrenched to lose.

Kerzner is a man who has, at times, been surrounded by controversy. Born in Johannesburg in 1935, the child of Lithuanian immigrants, he graduated as an accountant before taking over the running of a small hotel in aparthied South Africa's city of Durban.

Kerzner had bigger ideas however and borrowed enough money from his clients to develop South Africa's first five-star hotel on the coast just north of Durban.

A boom in international tourism ensured its success and it became the foundation for a company valued today at some $3.8bn (£1.93bn).

The financing of his first development set what was to become a familiar pattern. According to his unofficial biographer, Alan Greenblo, "Sol's consistent approach has been not to risk his own money but to take slices of the action as it progressed".

Kerzner - one of Africa's richest men

He has successfully kept his personal financial exposure low while continuing to reap the rewards of his growing business empire. By the mid 1970s his company had expanded to 31 hotels.

Gambling was illegal in South Africa under the National Party's rule but the decision to set up so called "black homelands" in the early 1970s gave Kerzner the opportunity to open casino hotels in what were, nominally, independent states.

The result was Sun City in the homeland of Bophuthatswana. It attracted around 15,000 visitors on its first weekend alone as mainly white South Africans drove across the border to escape the puritanical dictates of their own government.

In theory it was the one place in South Africa where blacks and whites could meet and drink together. Critics however claimed it represented one of the worst excesses of the apartheid era and, with its slot machines, floor shows and allied prostitution, was quickly dubbed "Sin City".

"Sanctions breaker"

Sun City made Kerzner one of the richest men in Africa. While he was able to persuade artists such as Elton John and Shirley Bassey to perform at the casino, on the pretext that it was in an "independent" country, other stars boycotted the venue.

A 1985 album, Sun City, by Artists United Against Apartheid including Little Steven and Peter Gabriel, attacked Kerzner as a sanctions breaker. It was something he continued to deny claiming the resort encouraged harmony among the races.

In an interview in 2005 he said what excited him "was that, in a country where the races had been kept apart by law, we'd created a place where people of all colours could eat together, gamble together, watch international shows together, even sleep together."

Kerzner began facing other attacks, this time over alleged corruption. He was acused of having bribed a homeland leader, a charge that hung for years until it was finally dismissed by the South African attorney general.

The proposed casino is next to Manchester's sculpture, "B of the Bang"

Further allegations, in 1986, claiming he had bribed the former leader of Transkei, were dropped in 1993.

Kerzner gave money both to the white National Party and the African National Congress. After coming to power, Nelson Mandela confirmed that the ANC had received £140,000 from him saying "[the Kerzners are] an example of a family not only interested in their own enrichment, but willing to give something back."

Kerzner remained close to Mandela and now lives a flamboyant lifestyle, not least in his choice of brides. He numbers the first ever South African Miss World among the four women he has married.

He has a taste for the company of celebrities with Liza Minnelli, Shirley Bassey, Bono and Tracey Emin among the guests for his 70th birthday party at his Monaco villa.

Over the years Kerzner has moved his core businesses away from South Africa, expanding into the Bahamas, where he is now based, the USA and, now, the UK.

While he still has to retender for the Manchester casino it would be a brave man who could look at his record and bet against him getting it. Unlike the many punters who will eventually cross the threshold of the new venue, when it comes to business deals, Sol Krezner is not a gambler.

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KIRI TE KANAWA Concerns about flying knickers have led to a lawsuit against the New Zealand born diva. The soprano had allegedly pulled out of a concert with Australian singer John Farnham after learning that it was traditional for women fans to throw their underwear at the popular entertainer. The promoters of the concert are claiming she did not share her reservations with them prior to the event and have gone to court seeking £230,000 in compensation. Full story

ROY OF THE ROVERS The Football League's oldest player is again pulling on his boots. Roy of the Rovers, who first appeared in the comic Tiger back in 1954, is set to return in a football fanzine. Roy's early success spawned his own title but a decline in comic sales in the 1990s killed off his career. The fanzine will initially feature some of Roy's earlier exploits but there are plans for new stories and a redrawn strip.

SEGOLENE ROYALE Segolene Royale's campaign to become France's first woman president has run into choppy waters. Critics are pointing to a series of gaffes by the socialist candidate including being duped by a radio presenter pretending to be the prime minister of Quebec and praising China's notorious justice system. She has fallen out with her partner, and Socialist Party chief, over tax policy and one of her political allies has been dismissed for racism. Ms Royale remains upbeat saying she has "no worries" and that "victory is irresistible". Full story

WILLIE WALSH The end of a strike threat by BA cabin crew has been seen by some as a climb down by the company's chief executive Willie Walsh. Just days after claiming it would be inappropriate to conduct unilateral negotiations, he personally hammered out a deal with union leaders. It has been a turbulent flight for BA lately. New Year passengers arrived at their destinations with their baggage still piled up at Heathrow and a decision to ban a worker from wearing a cross was reversed after pressure from Christian groups. Full story

Written by the BBC News Profiles Unit's Nick Serpell