Sir Philip Craven, MBE

Sir Philip Craven has been passionate about sport all his life. He was born in Bolton in the north of England, and educated at the University of Manchester where he graduated with honors in 1972.

Sir Philip is an accomplished five-time Paralympian in wheelchair basketball (1972 to 1988) and swimming
(1972). He won gold medals in the Gold Cup - World Championships, European Championships, Commonwealth
Games, and the European Champions Cup.

His many astounding contributions to Paralympic sport led to his election as President of the International
Paralympic Committee in 2001. Following this he was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee
in 2003 and a board member of London 2012 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He
was President of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation from 1998 to 2002.

Away from the basketball court, Sir Philip was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to
Paralympic Sport in 2005, awarded a Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, from Manchester Metropolitan
University in 2006, and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Nottingham University (2007) In 1991 he was
made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to
wheelchair basketball.

He is a keen amateur de vin and has been awarded the highly prestigious Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Croix de Bourgogne (2007). Sir Philip and his wife, Lady Craven, enjoy gardening, sports, and travel.

Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair is a leading barrister in the field of discrimination and human rights, and a committed campaigner for women’s and children’s rights. She is closely involved with over 20 charities with a special emphasis on those
working with children and women or based in Merseyside.

Cherie was born in Bury, England, in 1954 but moved when very young to Liverpool where she grew up. The firstmember of her family to go to university, she studied law at the London School of Economics and was called to the bar in 1976. She became a Queen’s Counsel in 1995 and is a founding member of Matrix Chambers. She sits as a part-time judge, as Recorders are known, and is also an accredited mediator.

Her fellow trainee at her first chambers was Tony Blair. The couple married in 1980 and now have four children – the youngest, Leo, was the first child born to a serving Prime Minister in over a century.

In addition to fighting for human rights in her professional career, Cherie is an active campaigner on equality and human rights issues. She has spoken across the world on both issues and also on the need for improved work/
life balance for women and men.

She counts herself privileged to have invited to work with charities, big and small. Among the charities with which she is linked are Scope, Barnados, the Loomba Trust, Refuge, Breast Cancer Care, and the Howard League for
Penal Reform. She is also Chancellor Emeritus of Liverpool John Moores University, an ambassador for London 2012, and a member of the UNICEF Global Task Force on Water.

Ade Adepitan, MBE

Having survived polio as a youngster, Ade has gone on to compete as a wheelchair basketball player on an international level and has a wealth of TV presenting experience.

He has represented Great Britain at the Olympics in Athens 2004 (bronze) and Sydney 2000 and has competed in the European (silver) and World Championships (gold). Ade’s energy and enthusiasm comes through in
everything he does, making him an ideal ambassador for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) as well as patron for such charities as the Association of Wheelchair Children and Scope.
He is an Ambassador for London’s 2012 Olympic bid, features in their high profile poster campaign, and was an integral part of the delegation that went to Singapore to present to the Olympic committee to help bring the
games to London. Last year Ade was given an honorary Doctorate by Loughborough University and has had the honor of being awarded an MBE for his contribution to disabled sport in the Queen’s 2005 Birthday Honors.
2007 saw Ade take on the challenge of the London Marathon in aid of Wheelpower and the Brain and Spine Foundation.

Using his sporting expertise, Ade reports for BBC1’s weekly Sportsround series. Ade will be covering the basketball final for the Paralympic World Cup (BBC2) in Manchester again this year and will also be reporting for
the BBC from the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. Ade has regularly reported for BBC1’s holiday series, having traveled to France, enjoyed scuba diving in Mexico, gone on safari in Kenya and the Gambia, skied in Canada and America. He has also reported from Bonaire and Curacao in the Caribbean.