Des Wilson

By 25 he was the founder-director of Shelter.

By 35 he had been a Fleet Street columnist for The Guardian and The Observer, and director of public affairs for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

By 45 he had re-established himself as the country’s leading campaigner, getting lead out of petrol with Clear, becoming chairman of Friends of the Earth and founder of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, and running the Lib Dem 1992 General Election Campaign.

By 55 he had fashioned a career in business culminating in working as Director of Corporate and Public Affairs for BAA.

Now, at 65, he emerges as a poker player and author of an eagerly awaited book, the first-ever on British professional poker.