There’s something about Jane… Jane Austen lived only just into her forties, never married, never had children, lived all her life in the south of England and rarely strayed far from the genteel
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was the Shakespeare of opera, the composer of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Aida and Otello. The chorus of Hebrew slaves fromNabucco (1842) is regarded in Italy as v
At age 25, Elizabeth II, the ‘accidental queen’, became Britain’s 40th monarch and vowed to dedicate her life to service and duty on behalf of her country. She is the constitutional monarch of sixteen
Why is Nelson a hero? Because he was a captain before he was 21, a man who shaped the course of history from the decks of his ships, hailed as a savior of the nation, a hero killed in action at the mo
Edward Jenner is a giant of modern medicine. Throughout history, smallpox had plagued humanity with disfigurement, blindness, and death. It was an incurable blight, the suffering of which Jenner helpe
In the space of less than 20 years, Napoleon turned Europe upside down. Rising from obscure origins to supreme power by a mixture of luck, audacity and military genius, he was able to harness the ener
Why is Alfred "the Great?" A simple answer is that he has been seen as a man who saved England, invented English identity and pioneered English as a written language. He is the first English
Wellington is a giant because he was one of the greatest military commanders in British history, an important figure in the emergence of Britain as a great imperial power, a man who dominated British
In this concise, accessible, and engaging biography, Pollard rejects the jingoistic approach to one of England’s most renowned military heroes. Henry V enjoyed spectacular success against the French,
It's often claimed that that through his ships, bridges, tunnels and railways Brunel played a critical role in creating the modern world. In the soaring ambitions of the Victorian age, nobody thought
From disastrous beginnings after he took the throne of Scotland, having murdered a powerful rival, Robert I became a military leader of consummate genius. Throwing away the rulebook of medieval warfar
Why is King Arthur a giant? Because his story has had such strong influences on our understanding of the history of Europe and the English-speaking world. Because the debate about Arthur as a historic
In 218, Hannibal Barca, desperate to avenge the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War, launched an ambitious ground invasion of Italy. With just a small force, he crossed the Alps – a feat reckone
Everyone knows that Einstein was a genius, yet only a few people understand his work. In fact, he was just one of many brilliant scientists grappling with the deepest problems of theoretical physics d
On Sunday, October 5, 2014, the 75,000-strong crowd at Old Trafford for Manchester United’s game against Everton joined in with an extended version of a chant which echoed around the stadium. "We all
When Darwin announced his theory of evolution by natural selection, he did more than transform biology. Before his great work, humans were comfortably different from other life, a special creation. By
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on the frontier, rose from laborer to lawyer, and finally to President of the United States. In doing so, he confronted the great questions of his age: slavery,
The world was stunned when Karol Wojtyla became the first non-Italian pope for 450 years. As Pope John Paul II he revolutionized the office, galvanizing the faithful, fighting totalitarianism and insp
Why is Henry Ford a giant? Because he put the world on wheels. Henry Ford did not invent the motor car, nor did he invent the assembly line or mass production. But more than anyone before or since he
The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most famous and bestselling books of all time, yet the girl who wrote it remains an enigma. The real Anne Frank has been lost, hidden behind the phenomenon that h
