Edward Henry Butler Vaizey (born 5 June 1968) is the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries in the UK, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State post with responsibilities in both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Wantage in the 2005 general election, and was re-elected in the 2010 general election.

He is a trained barrister, and regular columnist and commentator.

Vaizey is the son of the late Lord Vaizey, a life peer, and Marina Vaizey, a well-known art historian. As the son of a peer he has the title "The Honourable Edward Vaizey". Vaizey spent part of his childhood growing up in Berkshire. He was educated at St Paul's School and Merton College, Oxford, where he rose to the rank of Librarian (Vice President) of the Oxford Union and took a BA in History, achieving a 2.1. After leaving Oxford, Vaizey worked for the Conservative politicians Kenneth Clarke and Michael Howard as an adviser on employment and education issues. He trained and practised as a barrister for several years, specialising in family law and child care cases.

Timothy Paul Loughton (born 30 May 1962) is a British Conservative Party politician, and has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Worthing and Shoreham since the 1997 general election. Loughton is currently Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families.

Born in the south coast town of Eastbourne in East Sussex, Loughton was educated at Priory School, a state comprehensive school in Lewes in East Sussex, followed by the University of Warwick (where he was secretary of the University of Warwick Conservative Association), gaining a First Class BA in Classical Civilisation in 1983. This was followed by Clare College at the University of Cambridge, where he researched Mesopotamian Archaeology from 1983-4.

Loughton followed a career in the City of London as a fund manager from 1984 for Fleming Private Asset Management, becoming Director from 1992-2000.

Registrable shareholdings b) JP Morgan Chase; US investment bank. Register last updated: 3 May 2011.

Loughton's first attempt at election to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election, when he stood against David Blunkett in the Sheffield Brightside constituency. Although unsuccessful, he was chosen in 1995 by the local party board as a candidate for his current constituency, then newly formed.

Dame Elizabeth "Liz" Anne Lucy Forgan, DBE (born 31 August 1944) is an English journalist and executive for radio and television.

Forgan was educated at the independent Benenden School in Kent, a girls's boarding school, and at St Hugh's College, Oxford, then an all-female college.

She initially worked on newspapers starting with Teheran Journal as Arts Editor 1967-68, at the Hampstead and Highgate Express (1969–74), and on London's Evening Standard (1974–78, and later as a columnist 1997-98).

She was editor of The Guardian's women's pages from 1978 to 1982, a Guardian columnist during 1997 and 1998, becoming a non-executive director of the Guardian Media Group from 1998.

Forgan was a founding commissioning editor and then Director of Programmes at the UK's Channel 4 from 1981 to 1990.

She joined the BBC in 1993 to become Managing Director, BBC Network Radio where she developed the format for BBC Radio Five Live and launched the DAB digital radio service.

She left the BBC in February 1996 over a disagreement with John Birt, then BBC Director General, over the decision to move BBC Radio News from Broadcasting House to Television Centre.

Ketevan "Katie" Melua /ˈmɛluːə/ (Georgian: ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა  listen (help·info); born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian-born British singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's best-selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist.

In November 2003, at the age of nineteen, Melua released her first album, Call off the Search, which reached the top of the United Kingdom album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months of release. Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date^[update] has gone platinum four times. Melua released her third studio album Pictures in October 2007.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua has a fortune of £18 million, making her the seventh richest British musician under thirty. It was reported in 2009 that she may have lost millions as a result of the global economic downturn. As of May 2011 the singer could have a £12m fortune and she came second in the under 30 rich list.

Coordinates: 51°23′24″N 0°05′29″W / 51.3899°N 0.0914°W / 51.3899; -0.0914

The London School for Performing Arts & Technology (most commonly known as The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology) is a British school located in Selhurst, Croydon, in London, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, media, art and design and the technologies that make performance possible. Selective in its intake, the school is notable for its numerous famous alumni including Katy B, Adele, Ashley Madekwe, Amy Winehouse, Jessie J, Leona Lewis, Katie Melua, The Kooks, Imogen Heap, Kate Nash, The Feeling, Polly Scattergood, Shingai Shoniwa, The Midnight Beast, and Rizzle Kicks.

Established in 1991 under the CTC programme, the school is funded by the British Government, with support from the British Record Industry Trust, and maintains an independent school status from the local education authority.

Mark Featherstone-Witty had been inspired by Alan Parker's 80's film Fame to create a secondary school specialising in the performing arts. By the time he started trying to raise money through The School for Performing Arts Trust (SPA), he had refined a novel integrated curriculum. He approached Richard Branson to be the Project Champion who had agreed, but would only do so if other record companies chipped in. As it happened, The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) were concerned with home taping and realised they had no political influence to bring the necessary pressure to bear. The Conservative Government needed to give impetus to their flagging City Technology College scheme.