Biographees
This page is dedicated to current and prospective Who’s Who biographees.
You, the biographee, play a crucial part in keeping Who’s Who accurate and up-to-date, both by providing biographical information for your entry the first time you appear in the book, and by helping us to revise and update the details of your entry for each subsequent annual edition.
Who’s Who is published every December and we begin work on the next edition then, sending out proofs to each biographee (in alphabetical order by surname, and by post or by e-mail) in the spring. Although we do monitor the press and other sources of reference closely, your prompt proof return, answering any questions from our editors, informing us of any further additions required and confirming that your details are correct as printed, assures us that what we print is correct and approved by you. For this reason it is important that you sign and return your proof even if no changes need to be made, and it is essential that we have a contact address to which your proofs can be sent.
If you have been sent an invitation to compile a biography in Who’s Who and would like to know more about the book, its history and how people are chosen, please refer to our About Who’s Who section.
Confidentiality
Who’s Who is registered under the UK Data Protection Act to hold biographical data. The information in your entry will be published in book form, and electronically in other formats. Your address will not be passed to third parties. If you have indicated that your address should be kept confidential, then it will be used solely for sending proofs, and will not be published. If you anticipate an appointment or other change in your entry that has not yet been officially announced, this will be treated as strictly confidential until publication of the new edition.
As an entrant, you will be entitled to a special pre-publication discount on the price of each edition if you wish to buy a copy of the book. It cannot be stated too emphatically, however, that inclusion in Who’s Who has never, at any time, been a matter for payment or of obligation to purchase the volume.
Structure of a Who's Who entry
A Who’s Who entry is a short, standardised paragraph outlining a biographee’s life to date. At the top, just after the name and any decorations, we show his or her occupation, so that readers can see immediately what the biographee does.
This is followed by personal information: date of birth, names of parents, and the details (if applicable) of marriage(s) or partner and number of children.
We then show brief educational details (the establishments attended and qualifications attained) followed by details of the main career, normally in chronological order, with relevant dates for each appointment. Any public service or voluntary posts are listed separately after the main career. Publications (if any) appear after career details.
If the biographee is the holder of a hereditary title, we show the details of his or her heir (name, date of birth, and details of marriage and children) next.
Recreations follow — and an opportunity to give the entry a more personal angle. The recreations listed in Who’s Who entries are as diverse and varied as the biographees who list them.
Contact details come at the end of the entry: address(es), telephone and/or fax number(s), e-mail address(es). You may prefer to show contact details for your office, rather than your home, or not to list them at all. We do require a postal address for our records, so that we can send you a copy of your entry each year for checking and revising, but this does not need to be printed in your entry, and will be kept confidential if you wish. You may also wish to include club(s) as an additional point of contact.