Harry Potter author Jk Rowling and supermodel Naomi Campbell will eat alongside President Obama and the First Lady at a G20 dinner on Wednesday.

The writer and model are among a dozen women from the worlds of art, business, fashion and sport invited to a special banquet held at 10 Downing Street as part of this week's global financial summit.

Other attendees include Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones, Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes and Gail Rebuck, the chief executive of the Random House publishing group.

Rowling's attendance at the dinner - catered by Jamie Oliver - will raise no eyebrows as the multimillionaires is a close friend of prime minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah.

Campbell's invite, on the other hand, could come as a surprise to some as the 38-year-old has a criminal record in the US.

She was ordered to undertake five days of community service in New York in 2007 having been found guilty of assaulting her maid.

Other guests include lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox, director Gurinder Chadha and Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thomson.

Oliver's menu for the G20 dinner includes Welsh lamb, Jersey Royal new potatoes and asparagus from Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly.

"It's always a huge honour to cook at No 10, but to be invited to cook for such an important group of people who are trying to solve some of the world's major problems, well that really is a privilege," he told the Times newspaper.

"I'm hoping that the menu I'm working on will show that British food and produce is some of the best in the world."


01/04/2009 10:54:38