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The
increasing ethnic diversity of British society means it is
difficult to define what makes someone British. |
Famous British Personalities
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John Maynard Keynes
(1883 - 1946)
Profession: Humanitarian
1st Baron Keynes - English economist.
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His General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money 1936 proposed the prevention of financial crises and unemployment by adjusting demand through government control of credit and currency. He is responsible for that part of economics now known as macroeconomics.
Keynes led the British delegation at the Bretton Woods Conference 1944,
which set up the International Monetary Fund. His theories
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were
widely accepted in the aftermath of World War II, and he was one of the
most influential economists of the 20th century. His ideas are today often
contrasted with those of monetarism. Keynes was a fellow of King's College,
Cambridge. He worked at the Treasury during World War I, and took part
in the peace conference as chief Treasury representative, but resigned
in protest against the financial terms of the treaty. He justified his
action in The Economic Consequences of the Peace 1919. His later economic
works aroused much controversy
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Sir Malcolm Campbell
(1885 - 1948)
Profession: Sportsman
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British
corporation director and automobile racer, born in Chislehurst, Kent,
England, and educated in Uppingham and abroad. He was prominent in the
business world of England as a director and officer in a number of corporations,
but he is known in the United States chiefly for the world speed records
he set, beginning in the 1920s, in his specially constructed racing cars
on the flat sands in Daytona Beach, Florida, and on the Bonneville Salt
Flats, Utah. He was knighted in 1931. Campbell is the author of Speed
(1931), The Romance of Motor-Racing (1936), The Roads and the Problem
of Their Safety (1937), and Drifting to War (1937).
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George Herbert Leigh Mallory
(1886 - 1924)
Profession: Sportsman
English mountain climber.
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After
some spectacular ascents in the Alps, he participated in the Everest expeditions
of 1921, 1922, and 1924. The 1924 expedition culminated in a bold and
possibly successful drive toward the summit by Mallory and Andrew Irvine,
from which they did not return; Mallory's body was discovered on Everest
in 1999. Mallory's intelligence, resolution, and superb leadership, together
with the mystery surrounding his final effort, have made his name legendary
among mountaineers.
George Mallory, 38 and Andrew Irvine, 22 disappeared on their way to the
summit. They were last spotted by a member of the
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expedition,
who reported they "were going strong for the top." Whether they reached the
summit remains a mystery.
Dame Agatha Christie
(1890 - 1976)
Profession: Writer
English detective story writer
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Born
in Torquay, Devon, as Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. Christie's second husband
was the archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, and she gained much material for
her later novels during his excavations in the Middle East. An extraordinarily
popular author, Christie wrote over 80 books, most of them featuring one
of her two famous detectives; Hercule Poirot, an egotistical Belgian,
and Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster.
Her novels, noted for their skillful plots, include The Mysterious Affair
at Styles (1920), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), Murder on the Orient
Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), And Then There Were None (1940),
Death Comes as the End (1945), Funerals Are Fatal (1953), The Pale Horse
(1962),
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Passenger
to Frankfurt (1970), Elephants Can Remember (1973), and Curtain (1975); her
plays include The Mousetrap (1952), one of the longest-running plays in theatrical
history, and Witness for the Prosecution (1954). Christie also published novels
under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She was named Dame Commander, Order of
the British Empire, in 1971.
Dorothy Leigh Sayers
(1893 - 1957)
Profession: Writer
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Graduated
Somerville College, Oxford, 1915. Taking first-class honors in medieval
literature, she was one of the first women to receive an Oxford degree.
For a time she worked as a copywriter in a London advertising agency—the
setting for her Murder Must Advertise (1933).
Her first detective novel was Whose Body? (1923), which marked the debut
of her nobleman-detective, Lord Peter Wimsey; he reappeared in 10 novels
including The Nine Tailors (1934) and Gaudy Night (1935). Her short stories
featuring Wimsey were collected in Lord Peter (1972).
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Sayers is considered one of the masters of the detective story. Her novels are
brilliantly plotted and written with great vitality, wit, and erudition. She
later wrote religious dramas and theological essays, including Begin Here (1941)
and Creed or Chaos? (1949). She translated most of Dante's Divine Comedy (1949,
1955) and wrote studies of Dante (1954 and 1957).
Reginald Joseph Mitchell
(1895 - 1937)
Profession: Engineer
Designer of the Supermarine Spitfire
Born in Talke Village near Stoke on Trent on 20 May 1895.
Leaving school in 1911 aged 16 he joined the locomotive engineering company, Kerr Stewart & Co of Stoke as an apprentice and upon completion of his apprenticeship he began working in the drawing office.
At night school however he continued his education studying engineering, mechanics and higher mathematics and with the use of a home based lathe he mastered practical engineering.
In 1917, at the age of 21, a partnership that was to have a significant
effect upon his future was formed when he joined the Supermarine Aviation
Works as a designer and by 1918, recognising the excellent skills that
he had, Reginald Mitchell was appointed Chief Designer by Hubert Scott-Paine
the
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Managing
Director of Supermarine.
As seaplane manufacturers, Supermarine were attracted by the Schneider Trophy
contests although until 1922 when Mitchell took over complete control of the
design for that years entry, the competition was dominated by Italy, who having
won the Trophy in 1920 and 1921 meant that a further win in 1922 would secure
them the Trophy outright.
Mitchell's aircraft was the only challenger to the Italian's in the 1922 Schneider
Trophy and flown by Captain Henri C Baird it won, also taking four new Marine
World Records.
Mitchell was however a sick man. He underwent an operation to remove abdominal
cancer late in 1933 and almost died. He was told that if their was no recurrence
within five years he would likely survive but following that operation he never
fully recovered his vitality and remained a weak man.
Over the next two years his health deteriorated and resisting all medical advice
he drove himself hard, working not only on the Spitfire but also the Type 317
long range, four engined bomber. On 11th June 1937 Reginald Joseph Mitchell
died aged just 42
Anna Freud
(1895 - 1982)
Profession: Scientist
British psychoanalyst
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Born
in Vienna, Austria. Continuing the work of her father, Sigmund Freud,
she was a pioneer in the psychoanalysis of children. She received her
training in Vienna before emigrating (1938) with her father to England,
where she founded and directed a clinic for child therapy.
In an influential 1937 work, she argued that the ego had an active role
in resolving conflict and tension. Other psychoanalysts, including Heinz
Hartmann and Erik Erikson, advanced her ideas in their own work. Her writings
include Normality and Pathology in Childhood (1965) and The Writings of
Anna Freud (7 vol., 1973).
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John (Rhodes) Cobb
(1899 - 1952)
Profession: Sportsman
British racing driver
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He
broke the world land-speed record in 1938, 1939, and 1947, setting a personal
best time of 634.37 km/h (394.19 mph). He attempted to break the world
water-speed record on Loch Ness in Scotland in 1952. On his first run
he became the first person to break the 200 mph barrier on water, averaging
332.95 km/h (206.89 mph) for a mile, but shortly afterwards he was killed
when his jet-powered boat crashed.
Cobb began racing in 1925 and soon established himself as one of the stars
of the Brooklands circuit, repeatedly setting new lap records. After breaking
every world record between one hour and 24 hours he turned his attention
towards breaking the world land-speed record. In 1938, at Bonneville Salt
Flats, Utah, he set a new mark of 563.58 km/h (350.20 mph) in his Napier-Railton
Mobil Special. The previous record holder, fellow British driver George
Eyston, then regained the record with a speed of 575.330 km/h
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(357.493
mph), but in 1939, Cobb set a speed of 595.02 km/h (369.74 mph). In 1947, when
he raised the record once more, he managed to reach a speed of over 400 mph
in one direction.
Barbara Cartland
(1901 - 2000)
Profession: Writer
Record-holding, prolific British romance novelist
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Dame
Barbara Cartland (married name McCorquodale) was the most prolific author
in British history, known primarily for her romance novels. She published
more than 700 books in her lifetime, including 5 autobiographies and several
books on cooking and health.
But she's most famous as the "Queen of the Romance Novel." Cartland published
her first novel in 1923 (Jig-Saw) and was off and running. From the 1970s
through the 1990s, she set world records by writing around two dozen novels
a year. Cartland was also a celebrity, famous for her involvement in charities
and social causes and easily recognized
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by
her pink chiffon outfits. In 1992 she was named a Dame of the British Empire
Dame Barbara Hepworth
(1903 - 1975)
Profession: Artist
English sculptor
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Hepworth's
smooth, usually nonfigurative sculptures recall those of Jean Arp.
Working in Cornwall, she consistently sought perfection of form and surface
texture.
She worked primarily in stone, in bronze. Her sculpture is represented
in the Tate Gallery, London.
From 1933 to 1951; Hepworth was married to the painter Ben Nicholson.
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