Tim Berners-Lee is not a celebrity in the conventional sense, but an “influencer of the zeitgeist” he most cerainly is.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, OM

He’s the inventor of the World Wide Web (WWW), its markup language, HTML, and its protocols, like HTTP. Building on top of the backbone internet created by the US Military and the universites for research-sharing purposes, he created the popular internet of websites and email that most of us know today.

Last week Berners-Lee became a member of the most exclusive club of all : the Order of Merit.

The Order is limited to 24 of the most distinguished people on the planet. It’s in the personal gift of the Queen, not the politicians, so carries far greater kudos than other British honours.

There will be no fuss or fanfare, no procession of the great and the good. The members will wear simple lounge suits, and few onlookers will even notice the cars entering Buckingham Palace this morning, or know that the occupants will have lunch with the Queen and Prince Philip.

Before the main event, the Queen will have a private chat with the newest member, Sir Tim, and present him with his decoration, a small blue and crimson cross with a laurel wreath in the centre and a gold inscription : “For Merit”.

The Order has existed for 105 years and had a total of 174 members. Recipients have included, Thomas Hardy, Sir Edward Elgar, Florence Nightingale, Henry Moore and Sir Winston Churchill. More recently, Margaret Thatcher was made an OM, as was Betty Boothroyd, the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons.

It’s a suitable honour for Berners-Lee, whose work is made use of in some way by almost everyone on Earth on a daily basis. It’s hard to think of anyone who has had such an impact on the life of the planet and yet is almost totally unknown. Membership of this elite Order is perhaps the perfect decoration for such a modest man.

The words “For Merit” are well chosen. Today’s world is full of trashy icons with no merit except a talent for self-promotion, yet there are still people out there like Berners-Lee. Their depth of intellect and pioneering spirit are not valued by the majority, or the populist media that serve them.

No-one has worked harder at her chosen sporting career than Zara Phillips, the Queen’s grandaughter. Boyfriend, superfit rugby star Mike Tindall, has even been roped in to improve her fitness, while her father’s second wife, an American three-day eventer, has stepped in to tighten up her dressage performance.

Over the next three days, Zara and her trusty horse Toytown defend their European three-day eventing title in Rome.

Zara says, “A lot has changed in a short amount of time. I’ve certainly got a lot of confidence these days, which comes from winning the Europeans and the worlds. My confidence stems from the fact that others have belief in me now, a lot more than they had before. I don’t feel I have to prove myself any more to anyone. Nobody gave me those titles. The fact I come from the family I do had no relevance to what I’ve achieved. In fact, if anything, it’s been a disadvantage because of all the added attention.

“I’ve felt all along that I’ve had to do a lot better than others to get them to look at me as a sportswoman.”

At 26, Zara can certainly claim vindication for her long-term goals. It’s not an accident, of course, that her mother, Princess Anne, became European champion in 1971 and represented Britain at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Her father, Mark Phillips, went one better, winning an Olympic team gold medal in Munich in 1972 and an Olympic team silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, as well as claiming the Badminton crown on four occasions.

Zara is still not satisfied, though. “I’ve done okay but there’s still loads of stuff to do. Sure, Mum didn’t win a world title, but she did compete at the Olympics and Dad has an Olympic gold and a silver medal. So there’s still so much to achieve.”

Her goal is to qualify automatically for next year’s Olympics, where the three-day event competition will be staged in Hong Kong. Naturally she’s aiming for gold.

“I’m pretty desperate to compete in the 2008 Games, partly because both my parents competed for Britain at the Olympics but also because Toytown and I missed out in 2004,” she says.

“As soon as London got the Olympics we’ve all been looking around to find the right horse for those particular Games. To be able to compete at the London Olympics will be really, really special. I got a taste of what having home support backing you is like when I won the European title at Blenheim in 2005. It will be 10 times as good in 2012.”

Unfortunately, Toytown’s career will not extend as far as the London Olympics. “Ah, well, I think I’ve found another special horse,” she said.

“I’m not going to tell you its name because there’s a long way to go, but he’s got loads of potential and I’m excited about the future.”

Let’s hope they produce sparkling form in Rome over the next three days.

One of the first interviews we did on Celebrity at Work was with the world famous author, Colin Wilson.

His latest book The Angry Years is a memoir of his period as a so-called Angry Young Man way back in the 1950s. He tells the story of its genesis in John Osborne’s iconic play Look Back in Anger : “It was too personal, too vindictive, too undisciplined, and I agreed with the critic who said ‘anger has to be directed against something and if you’re angry about everything, then you’re not really angry’. … The Royal Court’s press officer, George Fearon, who disliked the play, told Osborne grumpily: ‘I suppose you’re an angry young man?’ The phrase was coined and, since my book The Outsider was subtitled ‘an inquiry into the sickness of manking in the 20th century’, it seemed natural to group us together as critics of modern civilisation.”

A re-examination of Colin Wilson’s critical and literary works seems long overdue. Maybe this new book will open doors for that.

The Angry Years by Colin Wilson was published by Robson on April 26, 2007.