King Alfred repairing the wall of the City of London. by Frank Salisbury; courtesy of The Gresham Committee. Portrait: Mansell Collection.

Born at Wantage, youngest son of King Ethelwulf of Wessex. Succeeded to throne of a failing kingdom after a desperate victory over the Danes at Ashdown. At a time when all the other kingdoms of Christian England had been broken by heathen Scandinavian hordes, he continued to resist and, after being reduced to a last refuge in the Somerset marshes, turned the tables on the invaders at the battle of Ethandun. When the Danes were at his mercy he forgave them, making it possible for the two races to live together in peace in a single island. Became the first king of all England and spent his last years restoring its shattered civilisation and helping to re-educate its people.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Pilgrims on their way to Canterbury: Painting: courtesy British Museum. Portrait: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Son of a London vintner, who procured him a page's post in the household of one of the sons of Edward III. Served in the latter's French wars and employed on diplomatic missions to France and Italy, where he became a master of Romance literature. While serving as Controller of Customs at the Port of London, made his name in Court circles as an incomparable poet and story-teller. An original creative genius who, before any other, presented human beings in his works as separate and idiosyncratic individuals rather than types and who, in his Canterbury Tales; painted a picture of a whole society in the shape of 32 pilgrims riding together from a tavern to a cathedral and entertaining one another-and revealing themselves-with stories on the way.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Tower of London in the 16th Century; courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum; photograph by John R Freeman Ltd. Portrait: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery

Succeeded at 17, amid universal acclamation, to the vast accumulated treasure of his frugal, secretive, prudent Welsh father, Henry VII. Huge, handsome, excelling at every sport and highly pngted, he was the beau-ideal of a Renaissance prince. Leaving public affairs during the early part of his reign mainly to his ministers, he carried out after 1530 the greatest revolution in British history, using Parliament to end the agelong separation of the temporal and spiritual powers; confiscating the wealth of the monasteries and constituting himself Supreme Head of a new national Church independent of Rome. Arbitrary, tyrannical and often, to those nearest him, cruel, he never lost the hearts of his subjects, whom he governed without a police force or army.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Painting: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Daughter of Henry VIII and his ill-fated second wife, Anne Boleyn. Declared illegitimate, in danger of her life during the reign of her half-sister, "Bloody" Mary, she succeeded to the throne at 25 to the intense relief of her Protestant subjects. For 30 years, by skilful diplomacy and the way she played off her foreign suitors and enemies against one another, she warded off the threat of Imperial Spain and the Counter-Reformation until England and her seamen were able to defend themselves against the supposedly "invincible" Armada. A "Virgin Queen", no ruler ever better understood the art of public relations, "Far above all earthly treasures:' she declared, I esteem my people's love."

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

The Armada: Painting by courtesy of The Parker Gallery.

Born in Devon, apprenticed to the master of a Thames coastal vessel, Serving with his kinsman, John Hawkins, narrowly escaped death through Spanish treachery, Avenged himself by making a fortune in raids on the Spanish Main. Between 1577 and 1580, circumnavigated globe in a 100 ton ship, breaking into the closed Spanish Pacific Ocean, and returning with immense treasure. Resolved "to seek God's enemies and her Majesty's where they may be found," he took the offensive against the impending Spanish Armada, harrying it in its ports and subsequently pursuing it up the Channel till it was dispersed. A superb seaman and born leader, he "made the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner and the mariner with the gentleman."

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Globe Theatre, Southwark; courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum; photograph by John R Freeman Ltd. Portrait: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Son of a Stratford-on-Avon corn-factor. Sought his fortune in London as an actor and playwright in the service of the Earl of Leicester's licensed Company of Players, which, touring the country In the summer and occasionally playing before the Court at Greenwich, Whitehall or Windsor, normally performed before rough London audiences at the Rose Theatre, Bankside, and after 1592 at the Globe Theatre, Southwark. Between that date and his retirement to his native Stratford in 1611 Shakespeare wrote, in addition to sonnets and poems, some 37 comedies, historical plays and tragedies, including much of the greatest and most profound poetry ever written in any language.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Painting: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

A small Huntingdonshire squire of passionate Puritan convictions who took part in the Parliamentary opposition to the arbitrary rule of Charles I When Civil War broke out in 1642 he raised a regiment of horse from his Fenland neighbours which he made the most formidable fighting force on either side. His victories in command of the Parliamentary cavalry at Marston Moor and Naseby made him the hero of the New Model Army and, as such, potential dictator of England, After the King's death, and further victories over the Scots at Dunbar and Worcester, he expelled the corrupt "Rump" of the long Parliament and became lord Protector, making himself as feared abroad as at home.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

London in the 17th Century by W Hollar; photograph by John R Freeman Ltd. Portrait by G Kneller; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

A brilliant mathematician and inventive prodigy who became a Professor of Astronomy at 24 and one of the founders of the Royal Society. After the Restoration, was appointed Surveyor-General, in which capacity he was called upon, after the Great Fire of 1666, to refurbish London with churches and a cathedral on classical lines. Having crowned the City with steeples and belfries and St Paul's dome, he built Kensington Palace and a new Hampton Court for William Ill, and two princely royal foundations at Greenwich and Chelsea for naval and military pensioners, Of the latter, with its unassuming grace, Thomas Carlyle observed that "only a gentleman could have built it." Wren's architectural epitaph is inscribed in the choir of his cathedral, "Sid monumentum requiris, circumspice." - If you seek his monument, look around,.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Woolsthorpe Manor. Lincolnshire. where Newton made his first experiments in gravity, inspired by the falling apple; (1;) Erich Lessing. Magnum Photos. Portrait by G Kneller; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Born in a small Lincolnshire manor house A mathematical genius who became a Fellow of Trinity, Cambridge, and, at 26, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He published in 1687 his revolutionary Principia in which, equating space with geometry, he revealed the laws of celestial motion and gravity. Became Master of the Mint, an M,P. and President of the Royal Society, and was hailed by Queen Anne as "the most illustrious of her subjects," "If I have seen further," he wrote, "it is by standing on the shoulders of giants, I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Tapestry of Insular. showing Lille in background; reproduced by kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Marlborough and the Marquis of Blandford; Blenheim Palace. Portrait: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Son of a ruined Cavalier squire. Educated at St Paul's School and became a page to the Duke of York, the future James II. Served as a soldier in Tangier and Flanders and made a love match with Sarah Jennings, whose friendship with the Princess, and future Queen, Anne became the foundation of their joint fortunes. At the Revolution of 1688 threw in his lot with William III, who distrusted him but recognised his superlative talents for war and diplomacy, and whom he succeeded as the pivot of the Grand Alliance against the overweening ambition of Louis XIV's France. Saved the liberties of Europe in four great battles: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. A man of dazzling genius and of the most winning address, distinguished for his "clear, cool, calm and steady under- standing:"

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Captain Cook landing at Erromanga, New Hebrides: by William Hodges. Portrait by J Webber; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

A Yorkshire agricultural labourer's son who went to sea at 18 in a Whit by collier and enlisted in the Royal Navy, where his industry, intelligence and passion for learning won him a master's warrant at 29. During the campaign for the conquest of Canada, he played an important part as surveyor of the St Lawrence river. In 1768, given a lieutenant's commission, this self-taught navigator of genius, at the instance of the Royal Society and the Admiralty, sailed in the 368-ton Endeavour on the first of the three voyages which, thanks to his indomitable leadership, revolutionised knowledge of the southern seas, charted the shores of New Zealand and Australia and prepared the way for British civilisation in the Antipodes.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Battle of Trafalgar 1805, by J M W Turner. Portrait by L F Abbot; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Son of a poor Norfolk parson. Sent to sea at 12, by his mastery of every branch of his profession became a post-captain at 21. Recalled to active command on outbreak of war with Revolutionary France. Appointed in 1798 to command a squadron in the Mediterranean, shattered the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, marooning Bonaparte in Egypt, In 1801 destroyed the Danish fleet under the guns of Copenhagen. After blockading Toulon for two years thwarted Napoleon's invasion plans by pursuing French fleet across Atlantic, subsequently annihilating the combined French and Spanish fleets in 1805 at Trafalgar. Inspired the entire Navy with his spirit of selfless devotion to duty and his ideal of personal leadership and comradeship.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Battle of Waterloo: by Felix Philippoteaux (courtesy Wellington Museum, London). Portrait: Victoria and Albert Museum.

Born Arthur Wesley or Wellesley, the younger son of an Irish peer, After an unhappy childhood and undistinguished youth, sailed with his regiment in 1796 to India where, by meticulous planning and imaginative boldness, he broke the power of the Maharattas, winning against immense odds at Assaye one of the most daring battles in British military annals. After returning to England in 1805 had to wait three years before being given active command in Portugal and Spain, Though heavily outnumbered, in six years, by patience, inspired common sense and immense professional proficiency, drove the hitherto invincible French from the Peninsula, capturing altogether more than 3000 guns and never losing a British one. Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo; later Prime Minister.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Stephenson's Rocket winning the steam race; reproduced by courtesy of "Illustrated London News". Portrait by H W Pickersgill; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Son of a fireman at a Northumbrian colliery, Began life herding cows, and entered mine at 14, Learnt to read and write at a night school, Became a highly skilled colliery engineman and invented a safety lamp for miners, Turning his attention to the problems of steam locomotion, in 1825 designed an 8-ton engine for the Stockton- Darlington Railway, the first in England. Followed this with his famous "Rocket" which, in 1829, with a speed of up to 29 miles an hour, won the £500 prize offered by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. In the last 19 years of his life, acting as engineer to one railway project after another, transformed the transport system of Britain and, indirectly, of the entire world.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Launch of 'The Great Britain' supplied by John R Freeman Ltd. Portrait by J C Horseley; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Born at Portsmouth. son of Sir Marc Brunei. the engineer who built the Rotherhithe Tunnel. In 1831 designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon. Appointed chief engineer to the new Great Western Railway. equipping it with a broad-gauge rail. As well as the many bridges and tunnels with which he filled Victorian Britain. built ocean steamships. including The Great Western which. making the crossing in 14 days. provided the first regular transatlantic service. and the still more famous Great Eastern. 700 feet in length and the then largest ship in the world. A man of wonderful ingenuity and indefatigable energy.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Queen Victoria at the Great exhibtion 1851: by Henry Courteney Selous (Victoria and Albert Museum. Crown Copyright.) Portrait by Bertha Muller; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery.

Only daughter of one of George III.s disreputable sons. the Duke of Kent. Having at an early age declared that her ambition was to be "good". she became the embodiment of the respectable virtues which the 19th-century British people most honoured:d, Succeeding to the throne at 18, she married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, whom she adored and whose death left her disconsolate. After a period of heartbroken seclusion and some temporary unpopularity, she acquired during the last 25 years of her reign an almost mystical prestige as the revered Empress of the greatest and most peaceful empire the world had ever seen.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Florence Nightingale at Scutari. by J Barratt; Painting: Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, Portrait: Mansell Collection.

The sheltered daughter of a rich country gentleman, who in 1854. at the age of 34. during the horrors of the Crimean War electrified Britain by taking a party of volunteer nurses to the appalling and ill-equipped military hospitals at Scutari. where she waged a passionate and ultimately successful war against filth. nightmare conditions and bureaucratic negligence and obscurantism. Returned home a national heroine: "a lady with a lamp shall stand;. wrote Long fellow. "in the great annals of the land:. Spent the rest of her long dedicated life. though a semi-invalid. tirelessly. and with ruthless efficiency. reforming the nursing profession, public health and the living conditions of the rank and file of the British Army.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

The Royal Albert Hall; artist's impression, circa 1869. Portrait by Sir Philip Jones, Bart; reproduced by courtesy of the Worcester Corporation.

The son of a Worcester church organist who, leaving school at 15, taught himself to play the violin, viola, cello and bassoon and: later, to conduct and compose In 1899 came the first performance of his Enigma Variations, followed in 1900 by The Dream of Gerontius which established him as the first of living English composers During the Edwardian ages he gave expression to the nation's pride In Its world-wide empire by his Pomp and Circumstance marches, from one of which the song Land of Hope and Glory was taken But his supreme claim to musical fame were his two symphonies his symphonic study Falstaff and, above all, his Introduction and Allegro for Strings: Violin Concerto and Violoncello Concerto.

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

Winter quarters of Captain,Scott's last expedition; Paul Poppcr Ltd (Popperphoto). Portrait by D A Wehrschmidt; Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery

A brilliant naval officer whose application to duty and genius for leadership won him command, at the age of 32, of a scientific research expedition to the Antarctic Nine years later he led an expedition to the South Pole in which he reached his objective, only to find that the Norwegian explorer, Arnundsen, had reached it before him Cut off by blizzards, he and his comrades never regained their ship but the story of their last hours thrilled the world ."How we lived," he wrote, "I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of any companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman These rough notes and our dead bodies Just tell the tale"

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant

St Paul's amid the flames of the London blitz, 29 December 1940; Associated Newspapers Ltd, Portrait: Karsh of Ottawa.

Son of Lord Randolph Churchill, and direct descendant of Marlborough, whose life he wrote Distinguished himself as an adventurous young soldier Entered Parliament as a Conservative. and, changing sides, became a Cabinet Minister at 33 - As First Lord of Admiralty mobilised Navy for war in 1914 After the failure of his brilliant but ill planned Dardanelles strategy, commanded a battalion jn the trenches Returning to politics, became successively Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, after a period in the wilderness while pleading for rearmament, Prime Minister in 1940, inspiring the entire nation and free world by his speeches and heroic defiance of Nazi tyranny Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955

Edited by Sir Arthur Bryant