The foreign-born relatives of high-profile British names, including author Ben Elton and former Tory leader Michael Howard, have also been refused.
Among the sportsmen, footballers appear to be the most commonly refused.
In July 2000, Arsenal's hopes of signing the £6million Brazilian midfielder Edu, then 22, were temporarily damaged when he was refused entry to the UK because he presented a false Portuguese passport at Heathrow Airport.
New York-based Dominican boxer Joan Guzmán was refused a visa last April for a fight with Edinburgh boxer Alex Arthurs for the WBO super-featherweight title.
The move was a relief for Arthurs, who suffered an injury just hours before Guzmán's entry was blocked.
American rapper Snoop Dogg was barred from entering the UK in March 2007 by the then Home Office minister John Reid after his involvement in a mass brawl at Heathrow.
In the early years of the Cold War, poet Pablo Neruda, singer Paul Robeson and composer Dimitry Shostakovich were refused entry to Britain for a peace conference in 1950. Pablo Picasso got through but was monitored.
Moonie cult leader Sun Myung Moon, Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan, American white supremacist Dennis Mahon, and Indian 'guru of the rich' Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh have also all failed to get in.
Politician Michael Howard's father Bernat Hecht, a Romanian-born Jew who later changed his name to Bernard Howard, was initially refused entry to the UK in 1937 because he did not have a work permit. He was allowed in four months later.
Author Ben Elton's father Ludwig Ehrenberg, known as Lewis Elton, was initially refused entry for having 'no means of support' in 1939 but is now Professor of Higher Education at University College, London.
Some refusals appear to be cases of the system working, while others are clearly the opposite.
In January last year, a foreigner who wanted to visit the north east was refused entry to Britain because visa officials ruled it "not credible" that anyone would want to spend a week in Gateshead.
