According to Time, the three individuals were bestowed the honour "For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow."

Bono has been a tireless campaigner for the world's poorest lobbying governments to drop debt, increase aid and reform trade policies. "Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world's richest countries into forgiving $40bn in debt owed by the poorest," said Time in the issue.

Bill and Melinda Gates have set up the world's largest charity - the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - and have saved some 700,000 lives in developing countries around the world by supporting vaccination programmes. The Microsoft founder's personal fortune is estimated to be at around $50 billion U.S making him the world's richest person.