A novelist, a racehorse trainer, a swimmer and film star, a key figure in the Warsaw Pact and 'the fastest granny on water'

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Matthew Bannister on The Scottish novelist Iain Banks - author of The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road - who also wrote science fiction Sir Henry Cecil - one of the most successful flat racing trainers of recent times. Willie Carson pays tribute. Hollywood's swimming superstar Esther Williams, Marshall Viktor Kulikov - one of the last of the Soviet military commanders. He played a key role in the crisis that led to martial law being imposed in Poland. And the Countess of Arran - a powerboat racer known as the fastest woman on water. She reached 103 miles per hour in a rocket-like boat on Lake Windermere in 1980.