New names add a Scottish flavour to the A-list line up in Who's Who

IT IS the go-to guide to Britain's most influential people.Now another 67 Scots have been added to the latest edition of Who's Who, which is published today.

• Slumdog MIllionaire director Danny Boyle. Picture: Getty

Among the 1,000 new entries in the 200 tome are Edinburgh-born and based TUC president Dougie Rooney and Church of Scotland leader, the Rt Rev John Christie.

They join the X Factor judge Simon Cowell, Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle and hairdresser Vidal Sassoon in the reference book.

Inclusion in the famous guide - which contains potted biographies of 33,000 of some of the most famous, richest and most influential people in Britain and elsewhere - is by invitation only and it is a major accolade for everyone making their debut in the new edition.

Entrants are invited to compile their own entries, which can be as long or as concise as they wish.

Mr Christie, 51, includes "five-a-side football" in his 11-line description, while Mr Rooney, 63, uses just eight lines to summarise his life.

Other Scots include Andrew Flapan, consultant cardiologist at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, and Eleanor Campbell, professor of physical chemistry at Edinburgh University.

Paul Jowitt, 60, professor of civil engineering systems at Heriot Watt University, lists his recreations as: "Morgan cars, sculpture, painting, digging at the allotment (Dean Gallery allotments), making cider."

Media personalities include Ian Stewart, 50, editor of Scotland on Sunday, who lists "mostly worrying" as his only recreation, and political commentator and broadcaster Iain Macwhirter, 58.

Glasgow Central MP and former NHS dentist, Anas Sarwar, 27, is one of the youngest new entries after 26-year-old Labour MP for Airdrie, Pamela Nash.

Gemma Doyle, Labour MP for West Dunbartonshire, joins the list this year along with Anne McLaughlin, who became an MSP for the SNP after the death of Bashir Ahmad.

Sarah Jane Smith, director of Children, Young People and Social Care with the Scottish Government is added to the new edition, as is Joyce Mackie, vice Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, who did not give her birthdate for the entry.

The first edition of Who's Who was published in 1849 as a 250-page volume - a tenth of the size of the 2011 edition. It is still considered a definitive reference book and is being made available online as well as in print.

Other Britons to join the list this year include News at Ten newsreader Julie Etchingham and BBC Radio Three presenter Suzy Klein.Emma Freud, associate film producer and daughter of the late Sir Clement Freud, joins her brother Matthew and partner Richard Curtis in Who's Who.

At the age of 95, cookery writer Marguerite Patten is among the oldest of the new entries, which includes all 232 new MPs elected this year.

All the new entries will remain in Who's Who until they die when they will be transferred to Who Was Who. The 2011 edition of Who's Who is published by A & C Black.