People

Historical people of interest and the events that have made them famous


 

at a time


Odysseus - Ancient Greece's Greatest Hero

War hero, dazzling intellect, seducer of goddesses - is there anything Odysseus couldn't do?   more  

Michael Collins

The Irish revolutionary who shot to prominence in his 20s as the antagoniser-in-chief of the British Empire, but was eventually felled by his own countrymen  more  

Emily Hobhouse

A modest Cornwall woman caused a storm in early 20th Century Britain with her crusade against one of her nation's more dubious creations - concentration camps  more  

Amy Dillwyn - The Forgotten Feminist

The late 19th and early 20th Century saw the rise to prominence of numerous feminist heroes. But you'd be hard pushed to find many people who have heard of Amy Dillwyn, the Welsh i...  more  

Tsutomu Yamaguchi - The Man Who Survived Two Atomic Bombs

Being caught in one atomic bomb attack is bad luck. To be caught in a second attack a few days later is catastrophic luck. To survive both? That's the luck of Tsutomu Yamaguchi...  more  

A Tribute to Michael Brooks, 1983-2020

The podcaster and YouTube host died suddenly this week at the age of 36. Though his primary focus was politics and ours is history, we still saw him as an inspiration and have take...  more  

Ching Shih - From Poverty to Pirate

Born into poverty and forced to work in a brothel, this formidable woman became the leader of the largest pirate fleet in the world, even bending the Emperor of China to her will  more  

The Harpe Brothers - America's First Serial Killers

Two Scottish brothers stalked the wild western frontiers at the end of the 18th century, slaughtering their victims not to survive or to gain financially, but for the pure thrill o...  more  

Bessie Coleman - The First Black Woman to Fly

A gentle teasing from her brother made Bessie Coleman determined to become a pilot, but she would have to overcome white supremacy and patriarchy in order to get there  more  

Annie Kenney - The Overlooked Suffragette

Standing alongside the famous Pankhurst women in the crucial days of the women's suffrage movement was a working-class girl who has not been as well remembered as her colleagues   more