Gervais and Pattinson make ‘most influential’ list

British comedian Ricky Gervais is named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in Time magazine's annual ranking. The accolade comes in the same week that the Golden Globes organisers announced they have asked Gervais to host the awards ceremony again next year.

Other Brits in Time's top 100 are Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson, TV impresario Simon Cowell, graffiti artist Banksy and golden oldie Sir Elton John. Also on the list, in the 'heroes' category, is Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast international who plays for Chelsea FC.

As always, the list is intriguing for who is left off as much as who is included. Gordon Brown, who has featured in previous years, has fallen off - and there is no place for any British politician.

But perhaps the most surprising political omission is Hillary Clinton. There's room for Hollywood's Kathryn Bigelow and Sandra Bullock - both Oscar winners this year - among the 31 women on the list, but not for the US Secretary of State and former First Lady.

Yet the list does feature Sarah Palin - who, in reality, has done no more this year than resign as Governor of Alaska - and there's still space for Hillary's husband, Bill Clinton.

The list is chosen by a panel of the magazine's editorial staff. As a sidebar this year, Time has also ranked its top 100 by their Twitter followings, which suggests that Lady Gaga is the second most influential person in the world after Barack Obama.

Here's the top 10 by Twitter ranking:

Barack Obama - 7,740,557

Lady Gaga - 6,697,752

Ashton Kutcher - 6,390,600

Taylor Swift - 5,608,398

Oprah Winfrey - 2,907,504

Robert Pattinson - 2,298,274

Ben Stiller - 1,735,285

Serena Williams - 1,681,207

Conan O'Brien - 1,352,195

Jet Li - 1,220,613 ·