Tony Travers is a British academic and journalist, specialising in issues affecting local government. He is the director of the Greater London Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He contributes a regular column to the Local Government Chronicle and has also written for The Guardian,The Evening Standard, The Independent, the Financial Times and The Times. He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.

Travers has held a number of official posts. From 1992 to 1997, he was a member of the Audit Commission and between 1999 and 2004, he was a Senior Associate of the King's Fund. He has advised the House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee and the Committee on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. He was also a member of the Urban Task Force Working Group on Finance.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to the establishment of democracy in 1994. As President, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father). Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades.