BURKE'S Peerage, the ultimate guide to the "who's who" of titled people, is spreading its wings and will soon be featuring the great and good of Yorkshire in a new regional publication.

The UK's most famous heritage publishing company, which is based in Stokesley and is formerly a national publication, is featuring Yorkshire's movers and shakers in the business world, artists, actors, writers and, of course, peers, baronets, knights and landed gentry families.

Burke's Landed Gentry: The Ridings of York, the company's 19th edition, will feature 5,000 men and women who have made a major contribution to the social and industrial life of modern-day Yorkshire.

They will be referred to on the book cover as "people of distinction" in contemporary Yorkshire.

The list will also include local government heads and politicians of regional and national standing, voluntary organisations, the media, religious leaders, sports personalities and the armed services.

Director Anne Christie said: "We have two main titles, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, and Burke's Landed Gentry.

"They are not published annually. They are produced rather sporadically - when the company can afford to finance them.

"We took the decision some years ago that it wasn't economical to cover all the landed gentry across the UK, so we decided to do a separate edition for each region.

"We have already completed a Scottish 19th edition."

A set criteria was developed and those who are featured in the bound, 1,500-page hardback edition must have been born, live or work in Yorkshire.

The area covered will be the Old Ridings of Yorkshire from Middlesbrough and Redcar in the north, Kingston upon Hull in the east, Sheffield in the south and Sedbergh and Halifax in the west.

"After a huge amount of research, we have selected 3,000 people and invited them to send their details to us," said Mrs Christie.

"Their inclusion in what is seen across the land as a very prestigious publication will be absolutely free, and it will be our way of honouring them. The remaining 2,000 are the aristocracy and landed gentry whose details we already have on record.

"When selecting, we looked for the most important people in Yorkshire today. In the 1820s, the landed gentry was very important but we have now decided to include untitled people.

"One of the most interesting things was that the landed gentry families' genealogies hadn't been updated since 1972. So we had to do quite a lot of work on them."

Questionnaires were sent out for the new additions to complete and those people already documented were asked to update their details to include any births, deaths, marriages or company positions held.

Mrs Christie said: "We rely on people to send the information back and we are about to send out reminder letters to those who have not yet replied, because we have a deadline to stick to.

"Sometimes, people send in extra information such as family trees or photographs because they are so interested in what we are doing. However, we are unable to use it all. All of the details are then added to our computer database."

She said that, as a serious reference work, the publication would be a unique tool for historians, librarians, business people and anyone with Yorkshire connections.

"We only put in information that can be backed up by documentary evidence. We start with the current details and then go back to the oldest history.

"We've got to be careful because we are dealing with people's lives. We now include children born out of wedlock and those who are adopted.

"There hasn't been a reference work as significant or comprehensive on Yorkshire like this before.

"One of the reasons we chose the region is because it has a really strong identity and people like to belong to Yorkshire. It is also a big area which is important.

"The Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, the Law Society, the Yorkshire Society and Yorkshire Forward have all been extremely interested and given us a lot of support."

Entries will include Glen Bowles, managing director of Asda; Ken Morrison, of supermarket chain Morrison's; writer Barbara Taylor Bradford, who was born in Yorkshire; actors Tom Courtenay and Judi Dench; football great Kevin Keegan; and television personalities Michael Palin, Michael Parkinson and Jeremy Paxman.

Burke's Peerage and Gentry has been publishing since the 1820s but has been based in Stokesley for six years.

Mrs Christie said: "The company was originally based in the High Street but we then moved to bigger premises on the industrial estate. People are often surprised to find out we are based here.

"I was working for another publishing company which took on the Burke's Landed Gentry project. It became so big that we decided to just focus on compiling it, so instead of a project it became a company."

The company has four core members of staff but also employs other experts including genealogists, historians, proof readers, editors and typesetters.

Alongside the publications, people can subscribe to the firm's comprehensive web site database.

"Genealogy is the third most popular topic on the internet," said Mrs Christie. "We get some interesting calls from all over the world particularly from people in America and Canada, whose families emigrated years ago.

"I love the enthusiasm people have about it. Everyone is interested in their family history and the internet has opened it up even more.

"I have a very interesting job and I'm particularly enjoying the Yorkshire publication because of its close links with the area."

The company is planning a further five or six regional volumes to cover the rest of England, Wales and Ireland, and is still debating on which area to do next.

Burke's Landed Gentry: The Ridings of Yorkshire, including Contemporary Yorkshire People of Distinction, will sell at a pre-publication price of £129 plus carriage until December 31 - going up to £149 after that.

For more information or to order the book, which will be published in May next year, visit www.burkes-peerage.net or call 01642 713530