Gone but not forgotten, great Scots take place in biography dictionary

• A great achiever in life, Scottish rally driver Colin McRae has a place in the dictionary of national biography

Rally champion Colin McRae and journalist and broadcaster Magnus Magnusson have been added to the updated version of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB).

They are among 216 men and women who died in 2007 who are entered in the book, published today. They are joined by the likes of Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, and Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, as well as the broadcaster and humorist Alan Coren, jazz singer George Melly and Ian Smith, the former prime minister of Rhodesia.

Stretching back over the centuries, the dictionary strives to build the most accurate, definitive historical portrait of its entries.

All those included must have been dead for at least three years before they are considered for a place in it.

Dr Lawrence Goldman, editor of the ODNB, said that this was to allow a more measured judgement on them: "We are not writing obituaries, which appear the next day in the papers, which are admirable, but they are instantaneous judgements. Three or four years allow us to read a variety of different memoirs and essays on notable figures, and our contributors can collect together all the information and all the material and then come to a more considered view of their life."

The choices made for each year's new additions are made using a team of 450 advisers organised in 43 different panels covering all aspects of British public life. Their suggestions are then boiled down by Oxford Press to between 200 and 210 entries.

One of the more controversial additions this year is that of comedian Bernard Manning. However, Mr Goldman said that the dictionary had not baulked at his inclusion: "We certainly put in people who are controversial, who are in some way distasteful. We have crooks, murderers, fraudsters, but that was always the tradition of the dictionary, going back to the Victorians, they always put in the malefactors as well as the benefactors of humanity."

Among other Scottish notables to be included are painter Steven Campbell, singer and storyteller Duncan Williamson and philosopher and historian George Davie.

Though born in Iceland, Mr Magnusson, a former assistant editor at The Scotsman, was brought up in Scotland and a fervent campaigner for Scottish culture and heritage.

Anna Magnusson, daughter of Mr Magnusson, said that she believed her father would have approved of his entry in the dictionary: "Dad would have liked this because it's well-researched and thorough, and it gives an account not just of the things like Mastermind for which he was well-known, but because it also brings out Dad's passions and the sheer range of his writing, broadcasting and public work."Immortal memory

COLIN MCRAE

"He contributed greatly to the popularity of rallying since his success was achieved through a style of driving that thrilled spectators, including television audiences."

MAGNUS MAGNUSSON

"Magnusson was a brilliant, charismatic man of many parts who graced public life, literature, and the media in Scotland, Britain, and Iceland."

TONY WILSON

"Eager to find groups, in April 1978 Wilson... attended a 'battle of the bands' contest and was impressed by the intensity of the last of 17 acts. The group was Joy Division and with Wilson's help they went on to become the defining band of the post-punk era."

ANITA RODDICK

"Roddick was a life-enhancing force, who brought harmless pleasure to millions of women, and intensified the political consciousness of many of them too."