From film stars to politicians, tycoons to writers, dissidents to lifestyle gurus, Lunch with the FT is a selection of classic interviews conducted in the unforgiving proximity of a restaurant table.

The list of people who have had Lunch with the FT since 1994 reads like an international Who's Who of our times. Meet the rich and famous, the weird and the brilliant, the brave and the virtuous, brought to you by the Financial Times' global network of columnists and correspondents.

The operative word is lunch: this book brings you right to the table to decide what you think of Angela Merkel or Martin Amis, George Soros or Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Angelina Jolie or Jimmy Carter. Meet not just oligarchs and royals, but the tycoon who will pay African presidents to quit, and one of the Arab world's most notorious sons.