The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is just around the corner. On 26 May singers, musicians and fans from across the continent will converge on Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan for the grand finale, with an estimated 250 million people tuning in across the world. If you intend to be in that number and fancy adding a bit of spice to the evening, you might consider having a cheeky flutter on the outcome. Over at William Hill they are offering odds on everything, from the outright winner to the placing of the British entry or even a match bet punt on how the UK and Irish entrants perform against one another. Before you put your money down, however, you'll want to have a think about where the smart bets lie.

The Outright winner category is always a tough call before the final stages. Past contests have thrown up some pretty surprising winners which have often left the audience scratching their heads. Across the board, however, pundits this year are tipping the Swedish entrant Loreen with her song ‘Euphoria', already a hit in her native country. William Hill has her priced at 9/4 and those odds may get tighter before the big night. A smarter bet might be on Serbia who can currently be backed at 14/1. Their entrant Zeljko Joksimovic has a great song in ‘Love is not an Object' and the smart money could be there. Those looking for something a bit more audacious might like to take a pop on Jedwards´ Irish entry, which can be bet at 20/1, though the twins might struggle to make the same impression at the contest as they did last year.

Like all those before him who have played James Bond, Daniel Craig has the quintessential British accent, yet he may have sounded completely different had it not been for a decision he made when he was 16 years old.

Daniel Craig was born in Northern England in Chester and grew up on the Wirral Peninsula, in Hoylake. At 16 however, Daniel decided to join the National Youth Theatre after a short stay at Calday. It was here that he started to lose his Northern twang and perfect his delivery with intensive training on the stage.

The actor was a young man when he first appeared as Joe in the Royal National Theatre's production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America in 1993, and enjoyed success with secondary roles in television dramas thereafter. He then broke out onto the silver screen in 2001 playing a rival love interest to Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.

Around this time he established himself as a leading male in Hollywood, and appeared as Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the bio-pic Sylvia, about the tortured relationship between poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. As well as this, he featured in blockbusters such as Munich, Layer Cake and Enduring Love. However, this was all building up to the role that has come to define his career so far.

James Bond represents a poisoned chalice to many actors, but in 2006 Daniel Craig took up the role as British Intelligence's number one spy. He inherited this role from Pierce Brosnan and enjoyed great reviews in the opening film Casino Royale, which seen him emerging from the sea famously in some tight blue trunks and risking his life over a game of cards. For the role, he received numerous awards and personal accolades including Empire Award for Best Actor.

Beyonce and Jay Z's new baby girl seems to be following in her parents footsteps already, commanding a huge entourage and diva status on one floor of the Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan where she was born.

Blue Ivy Carter was born Saturday 7th January, and over the top security measures have been implemented across Beyonce's “delivery suite” ever since, virtually locking down the fourth floor of the building to their exclusive use. An insider from the hospital has confirmed there are a number of special patient suites that be reserved in advance, and the price for this luxury is as yet unknown.

Blue Ivy Carter's name is said to be inspired by her Mother's favourite number four, in Roman numerals IV (Ivy). The Dream Girls actress and Jay Z have matching tattoo's with the special number displayed on both of their ring fingers. Yet the word Blue seems to hold particular significance to Jay Z, real name Shawn Carter, having featured in the title of three of his albums to date.

The proud mother delivered her child by scheduled caesarean section, and Jay Z was said to be by her side throughout the birth. Obviously the new parents want some privacy, but it doesn't help when you are two of the biggest superstars on the face of the planet, and courted by the paparazzi in every country around the world. For this reason, security has been extremely high to afford the couple some time alone, and this has had ramifications for other people on the maternity ward at the same time.

The surprise Oscar nomination received by Gary Oldman for his performance in British spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy comes as an overdue recognition of one of the world's most gifted actors. In a career that has spanned more than 30 years Oldman has proved himself again and again to be an actor of immense power and intelligence in films as diverse as Immortal Beloved, State of Grace and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Born in London in 1958 Oldman spent much of his early career in theatre before his role in 1986's Sid and Nancy announced him as a major movie talent. Oldman's portrayal of Sid Viscous the ill-fated, heroin addicted bass player of punk group The Sex Pistols was widely praised (though the movie was not) for its stunning, bleak authenticity.

Oldman moved to Hollywood in the early nineties and soon established himself as the number one go-to guy for big budget American movies who were in need of a great villain. Roles in Dracula, Leon, True Romance, Murder in the First, The Fifth Element and Air Force One all proved one thing: when you wanted a charismatic bad guy, there were few others who could deliver like Gary Oldman. Yet there was always much more to Oldman than just scenery chewing villainy. In fact he is also a terrific director as he proved with his emotional, semi-autobiographical 1997 film Nil By Mouth. That film (which Oldman also wrote) was acclaimed across the board and won a host of awards including a BAFTA for Best British Film. Since then Oldman has put in memorable performances in Christopher Nolan's Batman series, The Hughes Brothers' The Book of Eli and, of course, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Leonardo Di Caprio's performance in Clint Eastwood's J.Edgar is the latest in a long line of acclaimed lead turns from the American star. Taking on the title role of J.Edgar Hoover the highly controversial head of the FBI between 1935 and 1972, Di Caprio proves once again his ability to bring sympathy and humanity to potentially difficult characters.

Di Caprio has come a long way since he first appeared on screen in the straight to video horror flick Critters 3 way back in 1991. The big break for Di Caprio would come in the following year when screen legend Robert De Niro hand-picked the then 18 year old actor to take the lead role opposite De Niro in This Boy's Life. Di Caprio won great plaudits for that performance as he did for his performance opposite Johnny Depp in 1993's What's Eating Gilbert Grape? It was, however, his roles in two movies in 1996 and 1997 which would turn Di Caprio from a promising young actor to an icon of his age.    

The first of these was Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet, a high octane re-telling of Shakespeare's timeless romance set in modern Venice Beach. The second was James Cameron's Titanic which went on to become the highest grossing film of all time. These two films won Di Caprio the plaudits of critics and the hearts of young girls across the globe, and soon he was on every magazine cover and gossip column in print.

At this point Di Caprio was at a crossroads. He could continue with commercially solid box-office fodder and remain Hollywood's pretty boy or he could bring his huge talent to more difficult, potentially risky films. Since then his choice of work indicates which path he took.

Miley Cyrus achieved fame by acting in the children's television programme Hannah Montana, which has been broadcast on the Disney Channel in many countries all over the world. The actress soon became a popular figure amongst the youth of America and, since then, has gone on to become a pop singer. Besides acting and singing, she is also interested in fashion design and writing books.

Cyrus was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. Billy Ray, her father, is a famous country singer and also starred as Miley's father in Hannah Montana. Right from the off, Miley was greatly inspired by performing, taking singing and acting lesson when she joined the Armstrong Acting Studio in Toronto at the age of 10. It was through her time here that she was selected to play the main protagonist in Hannah Montana. She has won many awards for showcasing her talent in the programme. 

On top of this, she has also given her voice to the animated movie ‘Bolt' which was released in 2008. Miley was nominated for a prestigious Golden Globe Award for her excellent performance in the theme song for Bolt. She also sang a memorable song in the film ‘Times of our Lives', and delighted fans when she starred in the Hannah Montana movie.

Jennifer Aniston was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1969. Her parents, Nancy Dow and John Aniston, divorced when she was nine years old. The early part of her childhood was spent in Greece (her father's homeland), before finally moving to LA where she lived with her mother.  

Aniston was interested in acting right from her childhood days, which is why she joined a drama school at the age of 11. She was involved in a number of different plays and theatre productions during her time at drama school, before she finally made her debut on television.

Aniston, who has been labelled as one of the most beautiful woman in this world, has gone on to make an excellent career for herself in Hollywood, although, she is best known for acting in the legendary sitcom Friends. This role gained her huge popularity and cemented her status as a household name.

In Friends she portrayed Rachel Green, a role which won her Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild awards. She became an overnight star and earned great popularity by acting in what is considered one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. Friends screened for 10 seasons between 1994 and 2004. It not only made Jennifer popular but also made her a multi-millionaire.

Ewan McGregor is a famous Scottish actor who was born in 1971. He has starred in many films and has won a number of awards along the way. McGregor became an overnight star after his first feature film, Being Human, was released in 1994. But it was pem" McGregor, are both school teachers. McGregor has one old brother, Colin, who is a rhaps Trainspotting, which was released back in 1996 and starred McGregor in the main role as heroin addict Mark Renton, where he became a household name. The actor has gone on to star in many different diverse film roles. 

Born and bred in Scotland, McGregor spent most of the time in a small town called Crieff. When he was young he joined the independent Morrison's Academy to get some lessons in acting. His mother, Carole Diane, and father, James Charles Stewart "Jipilot at the. When he finds time from his busy acting schedule he often goes off on motorbike trips and has even made television series about this. McGregor married Eve Mavrakis, a French designer, in 1994. McGregor happened to meet Eve while shooting for a television series called Kavanagh QC in Britain. Eve gave birth to four daughters Clara, Rose, Jmiyan and Royal Air force. 

After the news of Hillary Duff pregnancy flashed across our television and internet screens, her fans were ecstatic and often came up to her in the street to congratulate her. She attended many award functions and ceremonies during the early stages of her pregnancy, constantly being in the public eye.

There were many things that her fans were interested in knowing about her, like the clothes and makeup that made her continue to look so fresh-faced. The media followed her wherever she went, broadcasting the news about her health in newspapers and on the television news. 

After revealing that she was pregnant Duff, who is married to well-known NHL player Mike Comrie, suddenly found herself in the spotlight to an extreme extent. She was constantly being surrounded by a large number of fans and the media. The doctors that treat Hillary are even being constantly chased and asked about her health. There are many articles posted on the internet talking about the possibility of Hillary giving birth to a baby boy or girl.

There are many Hollywood female stars just like Duff who often prefer to run away from media at the time of pregnancy, just because they do not want to get photographed. But Duff is not like this, she has even posted pictures of her bump on her Twitter account for her fans to see.

Since the release of the film-version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (based on the bestselling book of the same name), many people are intrigued to learn more about the film's leading actress Rooney Mara.

Critics believed that the producers of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were taking a risk by casting a relatively unknown actress in the lead role of Lisbeth Sander, instead of one of Hollywood's better known stars, such as Natalie Portman. But it seems the critics now have pie on their faces as the film has done incredibly well at the box office and Mara is quickly becoming a household name and went on to win a Golden Globe nomination for the role in 2012. 

Mara, born in New York in 1985, only started acting when she attended university - graduated from New York University in 2010 with a degree in international relations and psychology - where she had roles in student films. Her first led role in a movie was in Tanner Hall which filmed in 2007. In 2010 she played the lead role in the remake of the classic movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The movie did not do well at the box office, but it did lead to bigger and better things for the young actress as she received the role of the university student who dumps the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg in the box office hit The Social Network. Not only did the movie do well in terms of ticket sales, but it also won an Oscar Award for Best Picture. The Social Network was the first time that she worked with director David Fincher, who hired her to ply the lead role in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.