| Brooke Bond | PG Tips Tea Cards 50 Stories of the greatest Britons | Famous People 1869-1969


	01 LORD SHAFTESBURY (1801-1885) As a boy of fourteen, Anthony Ashley Cooper was horrified to witness a pauper's funeral, and vowed to spend his life fighting for the poor and oppressed. This he did. A deeply religious man, he was responsible for legislation to improve the appalling treatment of lunatics, to prevent women and children working in mines and to limit factory working hours. He also helped to run 'ragged schools' for the children of city slums, championed the cause of chimney sweeps' climbing boys, and fought to improve terrible housing conditions. The people loved him and the children called him "our Earl".
	02 SIR EDWIN LANDSEER (1802-1873) When he was 13, Landseer exhibted two paintings at the Royal Academy, and drew a St. Bernard dog so finely that his brother engraved and published the picture. Dogs were his favourite subjects, especially after he first visited the Scottish Highlands in 1824. He was a superb draughtsman, but later made his animals express human emotion and semi animal mentality which detracted from the pictures' naturalness and artistic merit. However, they and were immensely popular and admired by Queen deer Victoria, who knighted Landseer. He modelled the lions at the foot of Nelson's Column in 1866 declined the Royal Academy Presidency.
	03 alFRED LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892) Tennyson was taught largely by his father, a country parson. He grew up with great love and knowledge of the countryside, and was writing poetry at eight. the unfavourable reception of his first published poems, followed by the sudden death of his Cambridge friend, Arthur Hallam, so shocked Tennyson that he published nothing for ten years. The second collection, including Morte d' Arthur, made his reputation. His long poem, In Memoriam (for Hallam), published in 1850, established Tennyson as the greatest contemporary poet. He became Poet Laureate and a peer of the realm, and continued to write poetry until his death.
	04 CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN (1809-1882) From childhood, Darwin's great passion was natural history . He had little success at school or university, but in 1831 he was appointed naturalist on the survey ship Beagle. What he saw and discovered on this four-year voyage sparked off more than twenty years' work on the theory of evolution. Although he wrote on many other aspects of natural history, his great work, the Origin of Species, caused a sensation. It was bitterly attacked by men who (wrongly) thought Darwin believed man to be descended from apes, whereas his true theory was that man and ape had a common ancestor.
	05 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE (1809-1898) AND BENJAMIN DISRAELI, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD (1804-1881) These two politicians dominated the Victorian age. Both were Prime Ministers. Gladstone accepted office almost as a religious duty, Disraeli seized it triumphantly. Despite Gladstone's skill as a reformer and financier, his ability to sway the masses with his oratory and his passionate belief in the freedom of the individual, Queen Victoria preferred the flamboyant, witty and enigmatic Disraeli. Gladstone strongly opposed Disraeli's imperialism and, though both introduced far reaching reforms, Disraeli was the greater opportunist. Whereas Disraeli laid the foundations of the modern Conservative party, Gladstone's Liberal party declined in the twentieth century.
	06 CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) Charles Dickens was 12 when his father was imprisoned for debt, and Charles began work in a blacking factory. Although he longed to become an actor or a writer, he then worked in a lawyer's office before becoming a parliamentary reporter, writing sketches (signed 'Boz') in his spare time. In 1836 the first parts of Pickwick Papers appeared, like all his novels, in serial form, and immediately made him famous. His later novels are exciting, amusing, srrongly dramatic and full of brilliantly-drawn characters. But Dickens also drew his readers' attention to the appalling living and working conditions of the poor.
	07 DAVID LIVINGSTONE (1813-1873) This Scottish explorer began working in a cotton mill at ten, and studied in his spare time to become a medical missionary. From 1840 he taught and healed the people of Africa, crossed the continent, travelled down the Zambesi, discovered the Victoria Falls, searched for the sources of the Nile and journeyed through Tanganyika, now Tanzania. When the journalist and explorer H M Stanley finally found Livingstone at Ujiji,in 1871, weak and almost without supplies, he greeted him with the words "Dr. Livingstone I presume ?". Livingstone died two years later, having struggled to stamp our slave trading and open up 'darkest Africa' to Christianity.
	08 FLORENCE NIGHTINGalE (1820-1910) Florence Nightingale was born of wealthy parents, who forbade her to follow her ambition to nurse the sick - nursing was not for educated girls. At last she trained in a German hospital, and in 1854 took 30 nurses to Scutari, the hospital for the Crimean War wounded; conditions were horrific. She reorganised The hospital system, nursed the worst cases herself and looked after the welfare of the troops, who adored her naming her "the Lady with the Lamp". Afterwards, ill through overwork, she went on to found medical and nursing schools, and to establish nursing as a skilled, noble profession.
	09 LORD LISTER (1827-1912) Before he was 14, Joseph Lister, son of a Quaker wine-merchant and noted amateur scientist, determined to become a surgeon. He studied at University College, London, where he watched the first British operation performed under anaesthetics. This made operations easier, but not safer, as patients still died of infected wounds. Lister worked for 12 years, first in Edinburgh, then in Glasgow (as Professor of Surgery) to prevent this. Using carbolic acid to kill any germs present during and after the operation, he began a revolution in surgery. In 1897 he was the first medical man to be created a baron.
	10 William Booth (1829-1912) William Booth was the son of an unsuccessful builder, who apprenticed him to a pawnbroker. This experience made William vow to help every victim of poverty and degradation. He began preaching and holding meetings; he moved to London, and from his work in Whitechapel the Salvation Army was born. Through this religious organisation with military titles, Booth and his followers set out to spread the gospel, relieve pauperism, fight vice and help all homeless and needy people. After initial opposition, people recognised Booth's religious genius and the necessity of his work; their support helped him to carry our his schemes.
	11 LEWIS CARROLL (1832-1898) Lewis Carroll (whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) became a mathematical lecturer at Oxford when he was only 23. Carroll was brilliant and painfully shy, but very fond of children. It was to amuse the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, that he wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,. he himself illustrated the original version. Through the Looking Glass followed seven' years later. These brilliant fantasies were among the first children's books written from the child's point of view, with no moralizing. Carroll also wrote Sylvie and Bruno, The Hunting of the Snark (a nonsense poem) and mathematical treatises.
	12 GENERal CHARLES GEORGE GORDON (GORDON OF KHARTOUM) (1833-1885) Gordon fought in the Crimean War, and in the 1860's was nicknamed 'Chinese Gordon' when he skillfully suppressed the Taiping rebels in China. Back in England, he worked to help poor children. Later, whilst administering the Sudan for the Khedive of Egypt, he explored the Nile and tried to suppress slavery. From 1877-1880 he was governor-general of the Sudan, and was recalled in 1884 to pacify the Mahdi, leader of a serious religious revolt, and evacuate Egyptian personnel. For 317 days this deeply religious, courageous man defended and administered besieged Khartoum; the relieving force arrived two days too late.
	13 SIR WILLIAM GILBERT (1836-1911) AND SIR ARthUR SULLIVAN (1842-1900) Arthur Sullivan, son of a bandmaster, was a chorister at the Chapel Royal, won a scholarship to the Leipzig School of Music, became a London church organist and had won fame as the composer of music to Shakespeare's Tempest by the age of twenty. He wrote songs, oratorios, grand opera and sacred music, but he gained his greatest successes when he collaborated with playwright and humorist WS Gilbert to write the immensely popular' Savoy' operas, including HM.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. During the run of The Gondoliers, a stupid but violent quarrel ended this brilliant twelve-year partnership.
	14 thOMAS JOHN BARNARDO (1845-1905) Born in Dublin, Thomas Barnardo hoped to become a medical missionary in China, and came to train in a London hospital. In his spare time he taught in 'ragged schools', and here he met a homeless boy, Jim Jarvis, who showed the doctor where dozens more boys lived and slept in the open. Barnardo determined to rescue these children, and soon founded his first 'home of refuge' in Stepney, where children were given a home and trained for a trade. With Lord Shaftesbury's help, he raised thousands of pounds for this work. Before he died he had rescued over 60,000 children.
	15 W G GRACE (1848-1915) William Gilbert Grace was born at Downend near Bristol and studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's hospital, and then in Edinburgh, before entering general practice in Bristol. Grace began his 43 astounding years in first class cricket in 1865. He once made 400 not out in one innings; he was the first cricketer to score two centuries in one match, to get 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in one season and to score 100 centuries in first-class cricket. He was a remarkable batsman, a cunning bowler and a superb - captain. He did more than anyone else to make cricket England's national game.
	16 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894) Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, and was a delicate and imaginative child. He was intended for the family profession of engineering, but instead became a skilful author. Although poor health compelled him to live abroad, he always wrote best about Scotland. In America he married Fanny Osbourne, for whose son he later wrote Treasure Island. He also published accounts of his travels, essays, adventure and mystery stories, such as Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde, and A Child's Garden of Verses. He finally settled in Samoa, where he was writing Weir of Harmiston, considered his greatest work,when he died.
	17 CECIL RHODES (1853-1902) At 17, Cecil Rhodes went to Africa to recover from a severe illness. He made a fortune at the Kimberley diamond mines, returning to England briefly to gain a degree from Oxford University. He dreamed of building an all-British Africa. First he secured Bechuanaland for Britain, then persuaded the Matabele to grant concessions in their vast territories (later named Rhodesia) and strove to keep peace with them. He became Prime Minister of the Cape in 1890, but had to resign after a raid against the Boers in 1895. He left his fortune to provide scholarships for foreign students to Oxford University.
	18 GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950) After moving to London, Irish-born Shaw became known as a leading socialist and a music came known as a leading socialist and a music dramatist. His plays were intended to awaken people to the need for social reform; the first, Widowers' Houses, attacked slum landlords. He also wrote on historical subjects (his natural, humorous treatment of Caesar and Cleopatra revolutionised historical writing), politics, marriage, parents and children, doctors and education. His play Pygmalion later became the musical, My Fair Lady. Shaw had wit, vitality, charm and kindness. He delighted in being provocative, and became a legend in his own time.
	19 JAMES KEIR HARDIE (1856-1915) Born in a one-roomed cottage and sent down the mines at 10, Hardie became an active trade unionist early in life. He was black-listed by mine-owners, forced to earn his living by writing and in 1887 started his own paper. A fiery champion of the workers, Hardie wanted to help them with Parliamentary action. He became the first Labour MP. in 1892. Through his efforts the Independent Labour Parry was formed, and by 1906 he was leader of 29 Labour members. Hardie changed the course of British politics, but died weakened by overwork and disappointment that international socialism could not prevent the Great War.
	20 LORD BADEN-POWELL (1857-1941) Robert Baden-Powell was the son of an Oxford Professor of Geometry; as boys he and his brothers loved all outdoor pursuits. Robert served as a soldier in India, Afghanistan and Africa, sometimes working as a spy. He won fame (and was promoted Major-General) for his 217-day defence of Mafeking during the Boer War. He was always interested in the training and welfare of boys, and in 1907 organised an experimental camp on Brownsea Island, Dorset. Its great success led to the founding of the Boy Scout (and later Girl Guide) movement, which spread rapidly to become world-wide.
	21 SIR EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934) Edward Elgar, son of a music-seller and organist in Worcester, became the first British composer for 200 years to be acclaimed throughout the Western World. He taught himself to play several instruments, and at 22 became a bandmaster. In 1889 he married his pupil, Alice Roberts, whose guidance was immensely valuable to him. In 1897 his Enigma Variations, a collection of musical portraits of his friends, brought him fame. The Dream of Gerontius and other choral, orchestral and chamber works followed. From 1924 Elgar was Master of the King's Music, but wrote little of importance after his wife died in 1920.
	22 MRS. EMMELINE PANKHURST (1858-1928) Emmeline Goulden was born of progressive and liberal-minded parents at a time when women had no vote and virtually no rights. She married Richard Pankhurst, a barrister, and both worked to help the poor and championed women's rights. In 1903, she and her three daughters formed the movement whose members came to be known as 'Suffragettes'. They were ignored by politicians and imprisoned for causing disturbances to draw attention to their cause. When World War I broke out, the women worked instead (at Mrs. Pankhurst's insistence) to save their Country, and in 1918 Parliament first gave women the vote.
	23 DAVID LLOYD GEORGE (1863-1945) Lloyd George was born in Manchester and brought up by a cobbler uncle in Llanysrumdwy, Caernarvonshire. He became a solicitor, then entered Parliament. In 1908, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he introduced controversial new taxes to finance social services, there by launching the Welfare State. In 1914 his task was to finance the war. By 1916 he was Prime Minister, the first to rise from poverty and obscurity. 'The Welsh wizard' had deep sympathy with the people; he was a brilliant orator and superb war time leader. After the war he tried unsuccessfully to overcome unemployment, but never held office after 1922.
	24 EDIth CAVELL (1865-1915) When Edith Cavell left school, she taught a lawyer's children in Brussels until her father became ill and she returned to nurse him. He recovered rapidly, and Edith decided to train as a nurse. She soon reached the top of her profession, and in 1907 returned to Brussels to take charge of a new clinic. When war broke out she stayed to nurse patients and casualties, whatever their nationality. In 1915 the Germans arrested her for sheltering Allied soldiers and helping them escape. She refused to lie, even to save her life. This made her defence impossible and she was shot.
	25 HERBERT GEORGE WELLS (1866-1946) Wells, one of many children of a professional cricketer, was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to a draper, then to a chemist, but found this work drab and meaningless. After a time as a pupil teacher, he won a scholarship to study science in London. He wrote many novels about science, such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, and also novels about social changes, particularly in London. He believed in the intelligent use of science in society, but was also deeply concerned with almost every problem of the day. He always wrote humorously and sympathetically about ordinary people.
	26 ROBERT FalCON SCOTT (1868-1912) Scott, a naval officer and scientist, first explored Antarctica when he was in command of a successful expedition (1901-1904) in the Discovery, mapping large areas and journeying far into the interior. In 1910 he led an attempt to reach the South Pole. After a fearful struggle, five members of the expedition arrived at the Pole on January 17th 1912, only to find that the Norwegian, Amundsen, had got there 32 days earlier. Heartbroken, they turned back. First Evans, then Oates, died; Scott, Wilson and Bowers, stopped by blizzards, died of starvation and exposure only 11 miles from a food depot.
	27 SIR HARRY LAUDER (1870-1950) When he was a child labourer in a Scottish flax mill, Harry Lauder first won a singing competition. Then he worked for ten years in a coal mine before his first professional engagement as a comedian, in Belfast. In 1900 he was appearing at Gatti's music-hall when a gap occurred, through illness, at the Tivoli. Harry stepped in singing Scottish ballads, with instant success. The whole English-speaking world loved this comedian, singer and composer of Scottish songs. He was knighted in 1919 for his tireless entertainment of the troops; he toured many countries, published four books and acted in several films.
	28 RalPH VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS (1872-1958) Ralph Vaughan-Williams was born at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, and studied at the Royal College of Music. His own works, which were strongly nationalistic in style, were greatly influenced by English folk song, and by 16th-century music. They include nine symphonies (his Sea symphony, London and Pastoral Symphonies especially reflect English life), operas, piano concertos, songs (On Linden Lea is perhaps the most famous) and film music His music for 'Scott of the Antarctic' was later used as a basis for his .Siinfonia Antartica. Vaughan-Williams also gave endless help and encouragement to young musicians, both amateur and professional.
	29 SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL (1874-1965) Before entering Parliament in 1900, Churchill was already acknowledged as a fearless soldier and brilliant war correspondent. He held many Cabinet offices, with particular distinction at the Admiralty. In 1940, after eleven years of political isolation, Churchill, with his compelling oratory, "blood, toil, tears and sweat", his optimism, genius for administration and leadership, brought inspiration and hope to Britain under the threat of Nazi aggression, and led the free world to victory and peace. The greatest statesman of his time, Churchill was also a masterly writer and historian; he was knighted in 1953. His death was mourned by the whole world.
	30 LORD NUFFIELD (1877-1963) Billy Morris longed to become a surgeon, but because his parents could not afford the training, he was apprenticed in a cycle shop. Soon he was winning cups for racing bicycles he built; he started his own shop and began making motor-cycles and repairing cars. In 1912 he built his first car, the successful 'Morris Oxford'. He started mass producing cars and in 1930 he managed to produce a 1100 car. He amassed a huge fortune and gave millions of pounds to help other people, especially through medical research and to Oxford University. He was created Viscount Nuffield in 1934.
	31 AUGUSTUS JOHN (1878-1961) Augustus John was born in Ten by, Wales. Here, when he was a student at. London's Slade School, the. story goes, he hit his head on a rock whilst diving, and emerged from the water a genius He became a magnificent draughtsman; this mastery later spread to painting. John was a fiery personality with a passion for independence and personal liberty, which he expressed in his paintings, .especially those of gipsies. He felt real; affinity with their roving life and often lived amongst them. He also painted landscapes, still life and many famous portraits, including those of George Bernard Shaw and Dylan Thomas.
	32 SIR thOMAS BEECHAM (1879-1961) Thomas Beecham asked for piano lessons at six, studied music at school and university, and at 20 became famous when, through a great conductor's absence, he conducted the Halle orchestra. Beecham became England's leading conductor. He founded orchestras, trained them brilliantly, and spent his fortune (from the family's patent medicine business) in establishing opera in England and introducing great composers (Delius, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss) and artists (including the Russian Ballet) to British audiences. He was renowned for his brilliant, elegant conducting, and loved for his great wit. He was knighted, and succeeded to the family baronecy in 1916.
	33 SIR alEXANDER FLEMING (1881-1955) Alexander Fleming, son of a Scottish farmer, qualified as a doctor and was Professor of Bacteriology at St. Mary's Hospital, London, from 1924-1948, Fleming longed to find a way of destroying bacteria in the human body without harming the body's cells. Although he discovered penicillin notatum, a mould that killed bacteria, in 1929, it was ten years before a team led by Australian Howard Florey produced penicillin in a form in which it could be used and stored. Fleming and Florey shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Both were knighted for this discovery which revolutionised the treatment of disease.
	34 BARON BIRKETT OF ULVERSTON (1883-1962) Norman Birkett left his father's drapery business to enter the Methodist ministry, but whilst at Cambridge University decided instead to read for the bar. In Birmingham, then in London, Birkett rapidly won a brilliant reputation as a barrister in such trials as the Brighton Trunk Murder. A fair, eloquent and fearless advocate, he became a judge and was knighted in 1941, and was British Alternate Judge at the Nuremburg war criminal trials. Twice a Liberal MP., a frequent speaker, broadcaster and a man of wide interests, Birkett's memorial was his successful fight to preserve Ullswater in his beloved Lake District.
	35 FIELD-MARSHal VISCOUNT MONTGOMERY OF alAMEIN (BORN 1887) As a child, Bernard Montgomery lived for 11 years in Tasmania, where his father was bishop. He later joined the army, and in 1914 he was badly wounded in a bayonet charge. He soon made a reputation as a successful trainer of troops. In 1942 he was rushed to Egypt to command the Eighth Army; he defeated the German Field-Marshal Rommel at El Alamein and drove the Italians and Germans out of North Africa. His success lay in meticulous planning and his ability to inspire confidence in the men he led. In 1946 he was created a Viscount.
	36 JOHN LOGIE BAIRD (1888-1946) This Scottish inventor was trained as a motor mechanic and electrician and tried, unsuccessfully, to make diamonds with electricity (so blacking out an entire town) and jam in the West Indies, before turning his inventiveness to television. In 1923 Baird first transmitted an outline drawing by television, and in 1926 he demonstrated his invention to the Royal Institution. Within two years he had transmitted pictures across the Atlantic, transmitted day light (instead of studio-lit) pictures and achieved colour television. Although Baird's mechanical scanning system was later replaced by an electrical system, television owes its success to his remarkable inventiveness and perseverance.
	37 T E LAWRENCE ('LAWRENCE OF ARABIA') (1888-1935) Lawrence first visited and became fascinated by the Middle East as a student. He learned Arabic and, when war broke out in 1914, he determined to help the Arabs shake off Turkish rule. He lived with them, united and trained them, led daring camel-back attacks on the Turks and wrecked Turkish supply trains. The Turks were routed and Lawrence led the Arabs triumphantly into Damascus. He retired to write his experiences, then, bitterly disappointed that promises made to the Arabs were not fulfilled, he changed his name and joined the RA.F. as a mechanic. He died in a motorcycle crash.
	38 CHARLES SPENCER CHAPLIN (BORN 1889) Charlie Chaplin, son of two music-hall entertainers, had a hard childhood, and first appeared in variety when he was five. In 1910 he went to America, became a successful comedian and entered films in 1913 (he made 35 in one year). In 1915 he first assembled (with borrowed clothes) the 'little tramp' costume in which he was to appear for the next 25 years and become immensely famous. Chaplin, probably the greatest artist in cinema history, satirised important issues of the day in his films he starred in them, produced, directed, edited them, and even wrote the script and the music.
	39 ADMIRal OF THE FLEET THE EARL MOUNTBATTEN OF BURMA KC., PC., GC.B., OM., DS.O., FR.S (BORN 1900) Louis Mountbatten, a great grandson of Queen Victoria, served 50 years in the Royal Navy and was at sea in both world wars. In 1943 as Supreme Allied commander, South East Asia, he drove the Japanese out of Burma. He became the last Viceroy of India in 1947 and was responsible for transferring power to India and Pakistan. The Indians kept him for a year as their chosen Governor General. He was created an Earl. He returned to the Navy, was C-in-C Mediterranean, then First Sea Lord until 1959 and finally Chief of the Defence Staff, mainly responsible for organising a unified Ministry of Defence for the three Services.
	40 SIR FRANCIS CHICHESTER (BORN 1901) At 18 Chichester worked his passage to New Zealand, became a miner, gold-prospector and shepherd, and started a land dealing business and an airline. He returned to England, learned to fly and navigate, and in 1929-30 made the second solo flight, England to Australia; in 1931 the first east-west solo flight across the Tasman Sea and the first long-distance solo flight in a seaplane: New Zealand to Japan, before crashing badly while attempting a solo flight round the world. In 1945 he started a map-publishing business, and at 52, took up sailing. In 1960 he won the first single-handed Trans-Atlantic yacht race; in 1966-7 he sailed solo round the world faster than any yacht before. His writings have contributed greatly to navigational science. He was knighted in 1967.
	41 AMY JOHNSON (1903-1941) Amy Johnson qualified for her pilot's license whilst working as a London solicitor's secretary. Her hobby cost her her job, so she qualified as a transport pilot, an air navigator and ground engineer. On May 4th 1930, with her savings and other financial help, she set out in her Gipsy Moth 'Jason' to become the first woman to fly solo to Australia. Her record-breaking rime was 20 days. She returned to fame, money, trophies, the CB.E. and a Puss Moth 'plane in which she made other pioneer flights. She died in 1941, flying as an Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot.
	42 SIR LAURENCE OLIVIER (BORN 1907) Laurence Olivier's first stage appearance was as Katharina in a schoolboy production of The Taming of the Shrew. He worked in repertory, and his brilliance in both modern and Shakespearian parts was soon recognised, especially in Hamlet in 1937. Since serving with The Fleet Air Arm during the war, he has played all major Shakespearian roles and many modern parts. He was a co-director of the Old Vic Company, director of the Chichester Festival Theatre and the National Theatre. He has produced, directed and starred in magnificent films of Henry V, Hamlet, Richard III and Othello. He was knighted in 1947.
	43 SIR FRANK WHITTLE (BORN 1907) As a boy, Frank Whittle earned pocket money by helping in his father's engineering business. He joined the RA.F., continued to study engineering, learned to handle an aeroplane and planned an aircraft driven by hot gas. Everyone disregarded his idea, and it was not until shortly before war broke our thar he got official backing, and scientists worked to find a metal capable of standing the great heat of the burning gas. In 1941 his jet-propelled 'plane flew, and soon jets were being mass produced. Although his invention revolutionised flight, Whittle (later Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle K B E) refused to make money from it.
	44 DAME alICIA MARKOVA (BORN 1910) Alicia Markova was invited by Diaghilev to join his famous ballet company when she was only 15, and less than a year later danced her first leading role. Diaghilev's 'little English girl' became the first great English ballerina of the international Russian school. After Diaghilev's death she became leading ballerina of several British, European and American companies and in 1950, with Anton Dolin, she founded the London Festival Ballet. She was renowned for her ethereal lightness and delicate interpretations, and as Pavlova had been her inspiration, she in turn inspired the young Margot Fonteyn. She was created DB.E. in 1963.
	45 KAthLEEN FERRIER (1912-1953) At 15, Kathleen Ferrier won a national piano competition, but after school became a telephone operator, without considering a musical career. In 1940 a friend dared her to enter a singing contest, which she won. She began studying music and giving recitals to war workers. By 1943 she was a well-known oratorio singer. In 1946 she made her operatic debut in an opera by Brinen, who later wrote contralto roles specially for her. With her pure, rich voice, full of emotional power, she became Britain's best-loved singer, bur tragically died of cancer at the peak of her career.
	46 BENJAMIN BRITTEN (BORN 1913) Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft and began composing when very young. He first won fame with the choral work, A Boy Is Born,. his early operas, including Peter Grimes and Albert Herring, astonished the musical world. He has written several works especially for the young to take part in (Noye's Fludde, Let's Make an Opera) and hear. He. has written songs, orchestral and Chamber muslc, and a magnificent War Requiem for the consecration of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral. In 1948 he founded the Aldeburgh Festival. He is a Director of the English Opera Group and a notable conductor and pianist.
	47 SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS (BORN 1915) At 15, Stanley Matthews was playing football as an amateur for his local team, Stoke City; within two years he was a professional footballer. He played at outside-right and, with his amazing speed, fine body swerve and superb control of the ball, he was unrivalled throughout his career. He played his first international for England in 1934 and his last 23 years later. From 1947 he played for Blackpool for 14 years before returning to Stoke. He was still playing in first class football at 50 years of age. Matthews, The most famous. player football has produced played in three FA. Cup Finals and In 1965 he was the first footballer to be knighted.
	48 SIR alFRED RAMSEY (BORN 1922) Alf Ramsey played his first professional football for Southampton he transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in 1949 and helped to make them the second and then first division champions in successive seasons. He played 31 times for England, retired at 35, then repeated his achievement, now as manager of Ipswich, by taking his team to the second division championship (1961) and then the first division championship (1962). He has managed the England team since 1963. His knowledge of every player's potential and ability to draw the best from his team, have made England world champions. After the 1966 World Cup he became the first football manager to be knighted.
	49 PAT SMYTHE (MRS. SAM KOECHLIN) (BORN 1928) Pat Smythe began riding at three and at ten won her first major show-jumping prize. She first joined the British Show Jumping Team in 1947. During the 1950's she and Col. Harry LLewellyn (riding Foxhunter) were to raise British show jumping from mediocrity to international acclaim. With her �150 bargains, Prince Hal and Tosca, Pat won almost every show-jumping cup, prize and title in Britain and America. In 1956 she was one of the bronze medal-winning British Olympic team, and in 1960 rode in the Olympic Individual and Team events. She has written autobiographical and childrens books and she holds the OB.E. and many other honours.
	50 ROGER GILBERT BANNISTER (BORN 1929) As a medical student at Oxford University, Roger Bannister first began realising his school boy ambition to become a runner. He won the mile against Cambridge and became President of University Athletics and British mile champion. Disappointingly, he came only fourth in the 1952 Olympic mile in Helsinki. Then on May 6th 1954, at Oxford, Bannister ran the first under-four-minute mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds; he was paced by Christopher Chataway, who 46 days later helped Australian John Landy to break Bannister's record. That August, in a most memorable race, Bannister defeated Landy at the 1952 Empire Games in Vancouver shortly afterwards he retired from athletics.
Illustrated by Angus McBride Described by Virginia Shankland	*Source material provided by Wudge*

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