The Observer's faces of 2021
Headline makers of the past year talk about the highs and lows of their time in the spotlight
Bake-Off contestant Jürgen Krauss: ‘I had to call three families with crying kids to comfort them’
Billie Eilish: ‘I’ve gotten a lot more proud of who I am’
Galal Yafai: ‘Being an Olympic boxing champion is something I can live with for ever’
The British flyweight, the third champion boxer in his family, bounced back from defeat in Rio to a gold medal
Marianela Núñez: ‘What lockdown taught me, one more time, is that dance is my true passion’
The Royal Ballet’s phenomenal principal dancer was the fixed star at the heart of an extraordinary year for the company
Patsy Stevenson: ‘We were angry at being told we couldn’t mourn the death of a woman’
The 28-year-old detained at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard on violence against women, receiving death threats, and a new passion for activism
Film-maker Prano Bailey-Bond: ‘People think horror is just exploding heads’
The British director’s debut film, Censor, has won awards and plaudits, and attracted new fans to the genre
Adam Peaty: ‘You have to be better than everyone else, there’s no sugar-coating it’
The 26-year-old swimmer and father-of-one swept all before him at the Tokyo Olympics… but his exit from Strictly, he admits, was humbling
Pen Farthing: ‘Animals in a cargo hold never got in the way of people getting on a flight’
The former Royal Marine on his perilous evacuation of hundreds of dogs and cats during the fall of Kabul – and how he answers the sceptics
Murray Bartlett: ‘Filming The White Lotus in lockdown felt like a TV summer camp’
The Australian actor on creating his character Armond, the magic of Tales of the City and that meme-inspiring suitcase scene
Congressman Jamie Raskin: ‘I’ll never forget the terrible sound of them trying to barrel into the chamber’
The congressman was in the Capitol the day it was stormed by Trump supporters, and led the impeachment prosecution. The fight, he says, is far from over
Weightlifter Emily Campbell: ‘My legs were jelly… I’d achieved everything I’d dreamed of’
Kathleen Stock: ‘On social media, the important thing is to show your tribe that you have the right morals’
Chris Bryant: ‘Nearly everyone I meet says: I wouldn’t want your job’
Bookseller Samir Mansour: ‘It was shocking to realise I was a target’
The Palestinian bookseller whose shop was destroyed in the most recent conflict in Gaza on how it has been crowdfunded back into existence – three times bigger
Torrey Peters: ‘My book’s about dealing with the adult realities of being trans’
The acclaimed author of Detransition, Baby talks about the novel’s breakthrough success and how she was moved by the support of contemporaries
Micah Richards: ‘There was such a buzz around the Euros. I loved every minute’
The footballer turned pundit who won viewers’ hearts at the Euros on racism, singing Usher on screen and the real Roy Keane
