Curated playlist
English philanthropists
- Ed SheeranEd Sheeran bought a thirty-pound guitar two days after hearing Eric Clapton. He was eleven years old.
- Lewis HamiltonSir Lewis Hamilton was ten years old when he walked up to Ron Dennis, boss of the McLaren Formula One team, at the Autosport Awards. He asked for an autograph, and he came with an announcement. "Hi. I'm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British…
- Cat StevensCat Stevens sold more than 100 million records before he walked away from pop music. A 25-year break followed.
- Mick JaggerMick Jagger was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters on Platform Two of Dartford railway station on the 17th of October 1961. The man he met there was Keith Richards. The records revealed a shared passion for rhythm and blues,…
- David GilmourDavid Gilmour, the English guitarist born in 1946, once watched 120 of his own guitars go under the hammer in a single evening. On the 20th of June 2019, Christie's in New York held the sale, and it raised $21,490,750. The star lot was his…
- Chris MartinChris Martin, the English singer and pianist born on the 2nd of March 1977, composed a three-minute instrumental called "Electric Thunder" when he was 12 years old. In February 2020, a former fellow pupil found it on a cassette tape.…
- Zayn MalikZayn Malik was 17 years old and did not want to go to his X Factor audition in Manchester. On the morning of the tryout in 2010, nerves had won, and he wanted to stay in bed. His mother got him up and talked him into going. Years later he…
- Jimmy SavileJimmy Savile ended the last weekly edition of Top of the Pops on the 30th of July 2006 with the words 'It's number one, it's still Top of the Pops.' After the closing credits, he turned off the studio lights. Savile had been a fixture of…
- Louis TomlinsonIn December 2016, Louis Tomlinson stood on the stage of The X Factor thirteenth series final and performed a song released that very day. A few days earlier, his mother had died. He dedicated the performance to her, and he still regards…
- Arnold HillsA young Mahatma Gandhi served on a committee with Arnold Hills, first president of the London Vegetarian Society.
- Julian LennonJulian Lennon's nursery school painting inspired a Beatles song. It showed his classmate Lucy O'Donnell among stars.