Sportsperson of the Year

2001 Winner Sir Steve Redgrave Steve Redgrave is a sporting giant, his fifth gold medal at the Sydney Olympics making him Britain’s greatest Olympian. Not bad for someone who left Great Marlow School, Buckinghamshire, at 16 with only a single qualification – in woodwork. Luckily, Steve and rowing discovered each other. Tall, immensely strong and […]

Linda McCartney Award for Animal Welfare

2001 Winner Carla Lane For years, writer Carla Lane was TV’s undisputed sitcom queen.  But Carla’s heart was always with the animals she loved and whose suffering she could not ignore. Over the past 15 years, she has poured her time and money into caring for animals with a passion that has made her an […]

Outstanding Bravery

2001 Winner Brian Krishnan A raging fire in a house would terrify anyone. But it holds a particular fear for Brian Krishnan. Twenty five years ago, flames ripped through Brian’s childhood home. Brian, then aged five, survived, carried to safety by his father. But his four-year-old sister Gillian died in the blaze and the 31-year-old […]

Outstanding Bravery

2001 Winner Michael O’Leary Licenced taxi driver Michael O’Leary was making a routine trip to Heathrow Airport when he spotted a car swerving across the M4 motorway on a deadly collision course with motorists in the fast lane. The 67-year-old father-of-six, of Willesden, London, had watched the blue Vauxhall Cavalier crawl off the hard shoulder […]

Beyond the Call of Duty

2001 Winner PC Daran Cagin and PC Ian Thomson As experienced policemen, PCs Ian Thomson and Daran Gagin, have worked on some precarious incidents. But on Friday, October 13 last year, they encountered one in which they ended up risking their own lives. The terrifying drama began when PC Gagin of the Leicestershire Constabulary was […]

Special Award

2001 Winner Dr Rosemary Radley-Smith In many Third World countries children die simply because doctors lack the skills to perform major operations we take for granted. But Dr Rosemary Radley-Smith has gone to amazing lengths to change all that — and save hundreds of children’s lives. It started when Rosemary, a paediatric cardiologist at the […]