In person, Anita Roddick conforms entirely to expectations, except she's smaller than might have been imagined. Otherwise, yes, The Body Shop's founder and chief executive is just as feisty, engaging, voluble and energetic as her public image suggests.She possesses the gift of instant intimacy and has no fear about tackling topics others might prefer to shun, at least on first encounter. But Roddick is essentially a campaigner, a latter-day Emily Pankhurst who just happens to be an remarkably successful businesswoman. Conviction makes her brave. She has the temperament of an instinctive proselytiser. At the moment, her principal campaign concerns women's self-image and the horrendous problems, particularly in relation to eating disorders, this can cause. The Body Shop last year created a computer-generated and well-rounded doll called Ruby and posters of her are now being displayed throughout the company's outlets with the slogan: "There are three billion women in the world who don't look like supermodels and only eight who do." This Rubenesque being - in appearance a full-figured Barbie - is Roddick's response to the persistent promotion in the fashion industry of thin as an ideal."We wanted to do something about the discontent we felt because of the way the media has alienated women from their own bodies. We said, why is passivity still a factor in the fashion industry? It's glum cow disease. We want to bring forward the debate about self-esteem being an incredibly self-empowering process." Unfortunately, Ruby has encountered a problem in the form of toy manufacturer Mattel whose lawyers have recently contacted The Body Shop over infringement of ownership rights of a doll's image. Roddick seems unperturbed. She is not averse to a good scrap and, although this may not have been the original intention, presumably any publicity resulting from the dispute will benefit her business.Ruby and what she represents is just the latest in a long line of causes espoused by Roddick. She divides her areas of interest into three categories: human rights, environmental protection and management of the environment. The Body Shop's own policies reflect the same concerns. Documents provided by the company list opposition to animal testing, "social issues" and environmental protection as being "what we care about". Also available is detailed information on the different co-operatives and local industries around the world which provide The Body Shop with raw ingredients or finished products for sale. From the start, the company has prided itself on a "green" image, promoting the idea of "trade not aid" with developing economies and using natural ingredients. "We've always been counter-culture within the beauty industry," Roddick says. "We've never been part of the business's obsession with youth and phoney conditions like cellulite. It's amazing that 30 years after the women's movement so little has changed. There are still three messages being sent out - shut up, get a face-lift and diet." None of these is ever likely to be said to Roddick. She possesses an intimidating amount of stamina - "it's one of the most disarming qualities to have in England" - and stays constantly on themove."There's an energy in me and a dissatisfaction which causes that energy. I feel best when I'm most nomadic. The sense of movement, of sleeping on the ground and waking as the day starts; this is the real me." She believes this restlessness is an inherent part of her character, inspired in part by being the daughter of Italian immigrants "which makes you feel an outsider". Her mother she describes as energetic, enthusiastic "and a great hater of the Catholic church".When Roddick was 19, she learnt her real father was a cousin of the man married to her mother. Perhaps this knowledge only further increased her interest in bucking the system, although she says "there has always been this dissenting fervour in me. The BBC found some archival film showing me at the age of 12 campaigning for a local skating rink." At least one of her two daughters appears to have inherited what she calls "the protest part of my DNA". Sam Roddick is "an activist living in a community in Vancouver and studying alternative medicine". Her other child Justine has one child and is expecting a second. "She has always worked in the company and will go back into it when she's ready in two or three years' time."The Body Shop was set up 31 years ago by Roddick as a cottage industry to support herself and her children - at the time, her husband Gordon was trekking on horseback from Buenos Aires to New York. Understandably, she had no inkling of just how successful the business would become. The Body Shop reports that on average a new outlet opens somewhere around the world every two and a half days, the majority on a franchise basis. In the year ending March 2nd 1996, there were some 86.6 million customer transactions recorded in The Body Shop chain. The company's headquarters, in Littlehampton, Sussex where Roddick was born, employs more than 1,300 staff. Asked what she would change if she could start the whole process all over again, Roddick comes up with some relatively minor suggestions - redesign of the outlets sooner than was the case, avoidance of American shopping malls, the chance to write more books - but overall seems happy with the way her professional life has turned out. She is dismissive of any comparisons with Richard Branson - "that's pretty pathetic actually" - but in their restlessness and constant pursuit of new distractions they are alike. Plus, of course, their respective businesses have left both extremely wealthy. Roddick cheerily admits to enjoying more than average financial security but qualifies this with an explanation of the form her wealth takes."The money we have is in our shares. What I do have is an average-to-low income compared to norm for a CEO of a big company. However, we do have hefty dividends and we put those into our human rights activism, different campaigns, idiosyncratic things like the American Visionary Museum in Baltimore and just funding situations, events, people. Money is like water in a vase; it just grows stale if you keep it. When we die, our money is in a foundation to continue the help. The kids aren't going to inherit anything." Roddick is not embarrassed by the millions being made, but she expresses nervousness of them. "One of my biggest fears is that wealth corrupts. It shaves away your empathy with the human condition. Even though it was unexpected and came relatively late when I was in my mid-40s, I still worry about what money can do." Inevitably, success and a high public profile have left Roddick exposed to criticism. Three years ago, Channel 4 screened a hostile documentary examining both herself and The Body Shop - she sued successfully for libel - and around the same time an American journalist wrote an expose of alleged environmentally unfriendly practices in the company. Ever since there has been fairly frequent sniping at Roddick, her unabashed cheeriness and upbeat campaigns - the latter often understandably construed as hectoring. After all, the high moral ground she is presumed to occupy has never enjoyed popular appeal."Of course you are knocked down," she remarks of adverse publicity. "But you just groan and pick yourself up." And probably head off on another trip to the other side of the planet too. Although former-trekking husband Gordon is nowadays "more homebound", Roddick continues to feel "a sense of panic that I've got to experience more before I die".