Curated playlist
Knights Bachelor
- J. J. ThomsonSeven of J. J. Thomson's students went on to win Nobel Prizes. His son George Paget Thomson won one too.
- James ChadwickJames Chadwick signed up for physics by mistake. He meant to study mathematics, then found the neutron.
- Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway in 2023 after 13,981 performances.
- Elton JohnElton John sang "Candle in the Wind 1997" live only once, at Princess Diana's funeral. He wrote it days before.
- Ian McKellenIan McKellen came out as gay on BBC radio in 1988, while Parliament weighed Section 28.
- Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan has no smartphone and no email address. He hand-delivers his scripts to the actors he wants.
- Michael CaineMichael Caine took his stage name from a cinema sign he saw while phoning from a Leicester Square telephone box.
- John GielgudJohn Gielgud was arrested months after being knighted. Backstage in Liverpool, he feared he could not face an audience.
- George Boleyn, Viscount RochfordGeorge Boleyn's execution crowd fell almost completely silent to hear his scaffold speech.
- John Dudley, 1st Duke of NorthumberlandJohn Dudley's "wicked Duke" label was largely built because Queen Mary needed a villain.
- Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney traded a trumpet for a guitar and wrote his first song on it. His father had given him the trumpet.
- Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle once bowled out the famous cricketer W. G. Grace and wrote a poem about it.
- Edward ElgarA 1901 London concert crowd demanded a double encore for Elgar's first Pomp and Circumstance march.
- Ernest RutherfordErnest Rutherford scoffed at atomic power in 1933. Leó Szilárd later said that speech inspired his chain reaction idea.
- Salman RushdieA fatwa ordering Salman Rushdie's execution was broadcast on Radio Tehran on Valentine's Day 1989.
- Ralph Warren (Lord Mayor)Ralph Warren, a London mercer, served as Lord Mayor twice, in 1536 and 1543. Henry VIII knighted him in his first year.
- Kenneth BranaghKenneth Branagh won an Oscar for a film about the Belfast he fled at age nine. He won Best Original Screenplay in 2022.
- Christopher John DewhurstChristopher John Dewhurst chaired the first international symposium on gender identity in 1969.
- Ernest ShackletonErnest Shackleton and two men crossed South Georgia's mountains on foot to fetch a rescue.
- Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier's 1948 film Hamlet was the first non-American film to win Best Picture.
- Francis DrakeFrancis Drake climbed a tree in Panama and became the first Englishman to see the Pacific.
- Rabindranath TagoreAt sixteen, Rabindranath Tagore fooled experts with poems he called lost classics.
- Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born so small, he said, that he could have fit inside a quart mug.
- Allen LaneAllen Lane sold the first Penguin paperbacks from a vending machine. He asked why a good book cost more than soap.
- Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Day-Lewis collapsed sobbing during a 1989 Hamlet, in the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears.
- Jonathan PryceA drama school tutor said Jonathan Pryce would only play villains on Z-Cars. He was knighted in 2021.
- Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. Clarke never patented his satellite idea. He called a patent "a licence to be sued."
- William Smith (lexicographer)William Smith taught himself Greek and Latin as a law clerk. He then won both prizes at University College London.
- Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers Stanford could not persuade Cambridge's music society to admit women, so he started a rival choir.
- Marc Isambard BrunelWithin 15 weeks of its opening, one million people had walked through the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel ever built under a river. Its builder was Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, a French-British engineer best known for the work he did in…
- Antony BeevorAntony Beevor swapped a troop of tanks for a typewriter. The army officer became a historian of war.
- Ringo StarrRingo Starr's first drum was a cotton bobbin used to tap the cabinets by his hospital bed.
- Lew GradeLew Grade offered to make The Muppet Show in Britain after American networks turned Jim Henson down.
- Alec GuinnessAlec Guinness privately called Star Wars "fairy-tale rubbish" in letters to friends.
- Richard ArkwrightRichard Arkwright died without spending a single night in his castle. A fire destroyed it when it was nearly complete.
- Geoffrey BoleynHever Castle came to the Boleyn family in 1462 when Geoffrey Boleyn bought its manor.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- Nicholas Carew (Henry VIII courtier)Sir Nicholas Carew grew up inside the royal household, placed there at the age of six to share the education of the future King Henry VIII. For three decades he would remain one of the most recognizable figures at the Tudor court, a knight…
- David LeanFilm critics spent two hours tearing apart David Lean's Ryan's Daughter to his face at a New York lunch.
- John Boardman (art historian)John Boardman took over the Oxford chair once held by vase expert John Beazley. He widened it to Persia and China.
- Ridley ScottRidley Scott once ranked 31st out of 31 in his school class. He later kept that report on his office wall.
- Angus DeatonIn 2024, Nobel economist Angus Deaton said he had changed his mind on much of mainstream economics.
- Joseph BazalgetteIn 1858, London's stench forced Parliament to hang disinfectant-soaked curtains. Joseph Bazalgette built the fix.
- George MartinGeorge Martin called the Beatles' audition recording a "lousy tape" before he signed them.
- Walter RaleighWalter Raleigh sent settlers to Roanoke Island but never set foot in North America.
- John Hawkins (author)Sir John Hawkins was at the bedside of Dr Samuel Johnson when the great man died, a distinction his better-known rival biographer could never claim. James Boswell had been in Scotland for some months. Hawkins was born on the 29th of March…
- Ben KingsleyBen Kingsley turned down an offer to become a pop star in 1966. He auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company instead.
- Idris ElbaIdris Elba spent a night locked alone in a cell on Robben Island. He did it to prepare to play Nelson Mandela.
- Patrick StewartPatrick Stewart grew a moustache for Macbeth and saw his father's face in the mirror.
- Stanley Unwin (publisher)Publisher Stanley Unwin paid his ten-year-old son a shilling to review The Hobbit. The boy's verdict was favorable.