Notable Britons

Isaac Newton

1643–1727

Discovered gravity and the laws of motion

Charles Darwin

1809–1882

Developed the theory of evolution by natural selection

Stephen Hawking

1942–2018

Pioneered research on black holes and theoretical cosmology

Alan Turing

1912–1954

Father of computer science; cracked the Enigma code in WWII

Alexander Fleming

1881–1955

Discovered penicillin, the world's first antibiotic

Florence Nightingale

1820–1910

Pioneer of modern nursing; transformed hospital care

William Shakespeare

1564–1616

Greatest playwright in the English language

Jane Austen

1775–1817

Author of Pride and Prejudice and six classic novels

Charles Dickens

1812–1870

Victorian novelist who championed social reform

Emmeline Pankhurst

1858–1928

Led the suffragette movement to win women the vote

Winston Churchill

1874–1965

Led Britain to victory in the Second World War

Margaret Thatcher

1925–2013

First female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

William Wilberforce

1759–1833

Led the campaign to abolish the slave trade in Britain

Sir Francis Drake

1540–1596

First Englishman to circumnavigate the globe

Captain James Cook

1728–1779

Explorer who mapped the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand

Robert Burns

1759–1796

Scotland's national poet; wrote Auld Lang Syne

David Bowie

1947–2016

Pioneering rock musician and cultural icon

The Beatles

1960–1970

Most successful band in history; defined 1960s popular culture

J.K. Rowling

1965–present

Author of the Harry Potter series

Aneurin Bevan

1897–1960

Founding father of the National Health Service

Dylan Thomas

1914–1953

Welsh poet famous for 'Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night'

Roger Bannister

1929–2018

First person to run a mile in under four minutes (1954)

Sir Mo Farah

1983–present

Four Olympic gold medals in distance running

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill

1986–present

Olympic heptathlon gold medallist (2012 London Olympics)