Tun M among world leaders invited to Thatcher's funeral

WORLD LEADERS PAST AND PRESENT

-- EVERY SURVIVING US PRESIDENT has been invited.

-- In a rare move, Britain's QUEEN ELIZABETH II is attending, the first time she has been at a former prime minister's funeral since Winston Churchill died in 1965.

-- Several political giants of Thatcher's Cold War era are unable to attend due to ill-health. These include former Soviet leader MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, ex-German chancellor HELMUT KOHL and NANCY REAGAN, widow of former US president Ronald Reagan.

-- HILLARY CLINTON, the former US secretary of state, was also sent an invite. NEWT GINGRICH, the Republican former White House hopeful, has confirmed his attendance.

-- Representatives of NELSON MANDELA have been invited along with Mandela's predecessor as South African president, F.W. DE KLERK.

-- Canada's Prime Minister STEPHEN HARPER and former Australian premier JOHN HOWARD are confirmed guests.

-- European Commission head JOSE MANUEL BARROSO and Malaysia's former premier MAHATHIR MOHAMAD were also sent invites.

-- Argentina's President CRISTINA KIRCHNER will be conspicuously absent, having not received an invite. Tensions between London and Buenos Aires have been rising over the Falkland Islands, which Thatcher recaptured in a brief but bloody 1982 war.

SHOWBIZ AND MEDIA

-- Singer SHIRLEY BASSEY and actress JOAN COLLINS have confirmed their attendance.

-- ANDREW LLOYD-WEBBER, composer of many of the world's best-loved musicals, will be there with his lyricist TIM RICE. Actor MICHAEL CRAWFORD, the first man to play the Phantom of the Opera, is also attending.

-- JEREMY CLARKSON, outspoken presenter of the motoring TV show "Top Gear", is a confirmed guest, as is author FREDERICK FORSYTH and Welsh opera singer KATHERINE JENKINS.

-- RUPERT MURDOCH, the Australian-born media tycoon, was invited but has indicated he will not attend.

-- TIM BERNERS-LEE, inventor of the World Wide Web, is attending.

-- Advertising baron MAURICE SAATCHI will be there. His agency oversaw Thatcher's first winning election campaign in 1979.

-- Veteran journalists from Thatcher's time in power are attending including DAVID FROST, immortalised in Hollywood film "Frost/Nixon", and Irish presenter TERRY WOGAN.

-- Fashion designer ANYA HINDMARCH, who has long cited Thatcher as an influence and designed one of her famous handbags, will attend.

THE BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT

-- EVERY SURVIVING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER will be there along with all current cabinet ministers and the leader of the opposition Labour party, Ed Miliband.

-- ALL OF THATCHER'S SURVIVING CABINET MINISTERS have been invited including MICHAEL HESELTINE, whose dramatic challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party led to her ousting in 1990.

-- NEIL KINNOCK, who led the opposition Labour party for much of her term in power, was invited but is unable to attend due to the funeral of an old friend.

-- Senior MILITARY figures will attend along with SCOTLAND YARD chief Bernard Hogan-Howe.

-- FALKLANDS WAR VETERANS are attending. Regiments that played a key role in the 1982 war -- one of the defining events of Thatcher's era -- will feature prominently in the funeral ceremony.