IN a short terse paragraph, Philip Green makes his debut in this year’s Who’s Who. The high-street billionaire eschews any mention of his education and plunges straight into a list of the acquisitions that culminated in him becoming the owner of Bhs in 2000 and then Arcadia, incorporating chains such as Topshop and Burton, in 2002. He cites no recreations: business is also his pleasure although that does not preclude his throwing the occasional lavish party.

Other business entrants have more to say about how they spend their spare time and, while sailing, skiing and golf have plenty of devotees, more imaginative pursuits are also popular. Jeffrey Smith has been managing partner of the Wardell Armstrong mining consultancy since 1994, but surely deserves his mention in Who’s Who for this robust entry under recreations: “opposing: the nanny state; political spin; Federalist Europe; social engineering; red tape.”

I suspect that many of his fellow business people in Who’s Who would be cheering him on, although perhaps not Kevin Curran, general secretary of the GMB trade union, who includes in his recreations the delightfully antiquated sport of “keeping the foes of working people on their toes”.

In many ways, the new names from business are a wonderfully assorted bunch. Some have taken many years to ascend the corporate ladder, others have built their own businesses and, with them, family fortunes. But what largely unites them is that they are men. Of more than eighty new entrants from the commercial world, only eight are women.

They include Rosa Monckton, chairman of the jeweller Asprey & Garrard, and Bridget Rosewell, who chairs her own economics consultancy. There is also Fields Wicker-Miurin, a former director of strategy at the London Stock Exchange.

For Gordon Brown, intent on his quest to nurture entrepreneurship, the numbers in this category should be encouraging. John Caudwell is a local hero in Stoke-on-Trent, from where he launched the group which owns Phones4u and made himself a billionaire. Now he is promising to launch five of his staff 60,000ft in the air in a Lightning jet as a reward for providing the best customer service. They will also enjoy an eight-day luxury break in South Africa to prepare themselves for the return to work.

Julie and Stephen Pankhurst set up Friends Reunited in 2000 and since then have helped to reignite relationships, platonic and otherwise. Dinesh Dhamija also took the internet route to Who’s Who fame, spotting the potential for online travel agencies with what is now ebookers.

Some of the new entrants became household names before they gained entry to Who’s Who. Victor Chandler set up the eponymous betting business and Kirit Kumar Pathak took over and expanded his family’s Indian food business, which drops the soundless “h” to be Patak’s.

In the world of retailing, Justin King’s installation as chief executive of Sainsbury’s last year, aged 43, qualifies him for his Who’s Who entry but he may feel nervous if he studies the new edition closely. A fellow retailer, Roger Holmes, also makes his first appearance, put there by his job as chief executive of Marks & Spencer. Holmes, however, is now back in relative obscurity, having been booted out of M&S as dreadful trading left the group vulnerable to attack from Philip Green. Green was kept at bay when M&S drafted in Stuart Rose as a replacement chief executive for Mr Holmes, who may be reflecting that a mention in the long-established tome is at least more permanent than a chief executive’s job.

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