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Curated playlist

Officers of the Order of the British Empire

  • Frederick S. BoasFrederick S. Boas gave Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanish Tragedy, a scholarly edition in 1901.
  • Keira KnightleyKeira Knightley stood on a plank for two days and refused a stunt double.
  • Harold WilsonAt ten, Harold Wilson told his mother he would be prime minister. He went on to win four general elections.
  • Ernest ShackletonErnest Shackleton and two men crossed South Georgia's mountains on foot to fetch a rescue.
  • Jimmy PageJimmy Page was thirteen when a television host asked what he planned to do with his life. His answer had nothing to do with music. The year was 1957, and the programme was All Your Own, a talent show on BBC1 hosted by Huw Wheldon. Page had…
  • Ewan McGregorEwan McGregor rode motorcycles 22,345 miles from London to New York City in 2004.
  • Luol DengAt 13, Luol Deng averaged 40 points a game against players up to five years older. He had already fled a civil war.
  • Liam NeesonLiam Neeson, born William John Neeson, first saw great acting in a church he had no business being in. Ian Paisley, founder of the Democratic Unionist Party, led the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, and the young Neeson sneaked into it.…
  • 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.
  • Michael FlandersOxford refused Michael Flanders re-entry after polio left him in a wheelchair. He became a stage comedian instead.
  • Rana MitterRana Mitter's book on China's war with Japan has different British and American titles.
  • Yoshua BengioWhy has Yoshua Bengio, who helped build modern AI, spent recent years trying to slow it down?
  • Victoria BeckhamOn the 8th of July 2000, Victoria Beckham performed alone in public for the first time. The setting was London's Hyde Park, where a crowd of 100,000 had gathered for a Prince's Trust charity concert. She sang "Out of Your Mind", her first…
  • Eric IvesHistorian Eric Ives spent decades arguing over Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife.
  • 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.
  • Alan TuringAlan Turing once chained his tea mug to a radiator pipe at Bletchley Park so it could not be stolen.
  • Peter MolyneuxPeter Molyneux got ten free Amiga computers after Commodore mistook his baked bean exporter for a software firm.
  • Martin EsslinMartin Esslin fled Vienna in 1938 and later named a whole theater movement.
  • Jeff LynneJeff Lynne helped finish John Lennon's demo "Free as a Bird" for the Beatles. George Harrison asked him to join in 1994.
  • Gary LinekerGary Lineker played 654 competitive games and never got a yellow or red card.
  • Damon AlbarnDamon Albarn was due to speak at a rally in Hyde Park in February 2003. A million people had taken to the streets of London to protest the coming war in Iraq. He never gave the speech, because he was too emotional. Afterwards he explained…
  • Kylie MinogueKylie Minogue's hit "I Should Be So Lucky" was written in under 40 minutes.
  • 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…
  • Barbara DicksonBarbara Dickson had never acted professionally, and she first turned down the musical Blood Brothers.
  • Andrew Wallace-HadrillHistorian Andrew Wallace-Hadrill said Pompeii was suffering a "second death". He blamed human neglect.
  • Olivia Newton-JohnDame Olivia Newton-John sold more than 100 million records, a total that makes her the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all time. She was born in Cambridge, England, in 1948 and raised in Melbourne. Her career…
  • Stuart J. RussellStuart Russell called the AGI race "a race towards the edge of a cliff." He wrote it in January 2025.
  • John KeeganJohn Keegan taught war for 26 years but never fired a shot in anger. Illness left the historian unfit for service.

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