Curated playlist
English Anglicans
- Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn laughed on the scaffold, joking that she had a little neck.
- Charles DickensAt twelve, Charles Dickens pasted labels on boot blacking pots in a rat-infested warehouse.
- J. J. ThomsonSeven of J. J. Thomson's students went on to win Nobel Prizes. His son George Paget Thomson won one too.
- Benjamin BrittenAfter fire destroyed his concert hall in 1969, Benjamin Britten had it rebuilt within a year.
- Charles DarwinCharles Darwin likened confessing his theory to confessing a murder. He told botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1844.
- Henry VIIIHenry VIII broke England from Rome after the pope would not annul his first marriage.
- David CameronDavid Cameron's last words in the Commons were "I was the future once." He said them in July 2016.
- Jane AustenJane Austen died in 1817 without her name on any of her novels. Her first book said only "By a Lady."
- Andrew Mountbatten-WindsorAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew and Duke of York, was arrested on the morning of the 19th of February 2026. It was his 66th birthday. Officers detained him on the Sandringham estate on suspicion of misconduct in public…
- Lewis CarrollOn a rowing trip in July 1862, Lewis Carroll invented a story for three sisters.
- William WordsworthWordsworth's greatest poem, The Prelude, appeared only months after he died. His widow, Mary, published it in 1850.
- Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift once announced that a living almanac maker had died. Swift wrote as Isaac Bickerstaff in 1708.
- Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher kept a portrait of her chemistry tutor on the wall at 10 Downing Street.
- Catherine ParrCatherine Parr avoided arrest by telling Henry VIII she argued religion to distract him from his leg pain.
- Elizabeth IElizabeth I came to the throne as a declared bastard whose mother had been executed.
- Alfred, Lord TennysonGrief for a friend who died at twenty-two shaped Tennyson's masterpiece.
- Catherine HowardCatherine Howard was queen of England for barely sixteen months. Henry VIII's fifth wife was beheaded in 1542.
- Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson told his publishers he could write an English dictionary in three years, and it took eight.
- Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge coined the phrase "suspension of disbelief." He also battled opium addiction for years.
- Ozzy OsbourneOn the 5th of July 2025, Ozzy Osbourne sat on a black throne at Villa Park in Birmingham, because Parkinson's disease had left him unable to stand. More than 40,000 people filled the ground. At its peak, the livestream drew 5.8 million…
- John LockeJohn Locke's phrase "long train of abuses" appears word for word in the Declaration of Independence.
- Benjamin DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli bought a controlling stake in the Suez Canal within days in 1875.
- Lady Jane GreyLady Jane Grey was queen of England for only nine days in July 1553. Her own Privy Council then turned on her.
- Thomas CranmerThomas Cranmer thrust his right hand into the flames first. He said it was punishment for signing his recantations.
- Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born so small, he said, that he could have fit inside a quart mug.
- Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl WavellArchibald Wavell beat Italy's army in Libya, then Winston Churchill replaced him in June 1941.
- Richard ArkwrightRichard Arkwright died without spending a single night in his castle. A fire destroyed it when it was nearly complete.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- Hilda Ellis DavidsonHilda Ellis Davidson used burial mounds to study Norse beliefs, which was almost heretical in 1943.
- Edmund SpenserWhen poet Edmund Spenser was buried in 1599, fellow poets threw pens and their own poems into his grave.
- Robert HookeRobert Hooke built the air pump that made Boyle's Law possible. He also designed London's Monument to the Great Fire.
- Thomas CromwellHenry VIII beheaded Thomas Cromwell, then called him his most faithful servant.
- Robert BridgesRobert Bridges was the only medical graduate to hold the office of Poet Laureate. He was appointed in 1913.
- Rowan AtkinsonRowan Atkinson played one synthesizer note, over and over, at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The moment came during a performance of "Chariots of Fire". Atkinson appeared as Mr. Bean, and the single note soon…
- H. F. M. PrescottH. F. M. Prescott wrote a novel about a Tudor uprising that has never gone out of print.
- Donald SwannDonald Swann set J. R. R. Tolkien's poems to music, and Tolkien joined the recording.
- Edmund CartwrightA mill meant for 500 power looms burned down with only 30 installed. Weavers working by hand were the likely arsonists.
- Thomas LucySir Thomas Lucy was knighted in 1565 by the queen's favorite, not by the queen. He may have clashed with Shakespeare.