Matthew Bannister on

The playwright Sir Arnold Wesker whose work celebrated working class life,

Howard Marks, the convicted cannabis smuggler and raconteur who became a folk hero to some.

Peggy Fortnum, the children's book illustrator who brought Paddington Bear to life.

The country singer Merle Haggard whose music was steeped in traditional redneck America.

And Rachel Johnson, last surviving resident of the Scottish island of St Kilda which was evacuated in 1930.