Sir Michael Caine
From working-class south London to British screen icon, Caine built a career across eight decades.
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Roger Moore: actor, Bond and UNICEF ambassador
From Simon Templar to James Bond, Roger Moore built a distinctive screen persona and later put his public profile to work for UNICEF and animal welfare.
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Sir Elton John: songwriting, spectacle and a campaign against AIDS
From Pinner piano lessons to a decades-long partnership with Bernie Taupin, Elton John built an international musical career and used his public profile to support people affected by HIV/AIDS.
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J.K. Rowling: the Harry Potter books and charitable work
The author’s seven-book series reached a worldwide readership; her charitable work includes establishing Lumos to promote family-based care for children.
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Malala Yousafzai
The Pakistani education activist survived a Taliban attack and continued her education and advocacy from Birmingham.
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Sir Ian McKellen: a life on stage and a voice for equality
From Shakespeare and the National Theatre to Gandalf, Magneto and the campaign against Section 28, McKellen has joined a long acting career to public advocacy.
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Lewis Hamilton: racing success and a push for wider opportunity
From Stevenage karting to seven Formula One titles, Hamilton has used a record-setting career to challenge the sport’s narrow idea of who belongs.
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Stephen Hawking: the physicist who made the universe a public subject
From Cambridge’s Lucasian chair to the bestseller lists, Hawking brought questions about black holes and cosmology to audiences around the world.
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Mo Farah: Olympic champion and British distance-running great
Four Olympic golds, six world titles and a career that carried British distance running to the top of the global track.
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Sir David Attenborough
The broadcaster who brought the natural world into British homes—and used that platform to make its protection harder to ignore.
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Bear Grylls: adventure, television and the Scouts
From a Himalayan summit to a long tenure as Chief Scout, Bear Grylls built a public career around adventure and youth work.
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Emma Watson: acting, education and advocacy
From Hermione Granger to UN Women’s HeForShe campaign, Emma Watson has combined a major screen career with public work on gender equality and sustainable fashion.
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Stephen Fry: A Beacon of the British Legacy
From Cambridge comedy and theatre to novels, broadcasting and public advocacy, Fry has built a varied career in British cultural life.
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Rowan Atkinson: the craft behind Mr Bean and Blackadder
From Oxford revue to globally recognised screen characters, Atkinson built a career across television, film and the West End.
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Helen Bamber: bearing witness and rebuilding lives
From Bergen-Belsen to the organisations she established in Britain, Helen Bamber worked with survivors of persecution, torture and other violence.
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Sir Richard Branson
From a student magazine and a record shop to airlines, railways and spaceflight, Richard Branson built the Virgin name through ventures that reshaped parts of British business.
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Dame Cicely Saunders
The nurse, social worker and physician who helped establish modern hospice care and made pain relief central to care at the end of life.
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Princess Diana: A public life shaped by humanitarian work
Diana, Princess of Wales, used her public role to draw attention to HIV/AIDS, homelessness and the civilian impact of landmines.
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Zainab Salbi: building support for women affected by conflict
The Iraqi-American activist co-founded Women for Women International, wrote about women’s lives in war and studied development at the London School of Economics.
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Terry Waite: hostage negotiator, captive and humanitarian
The Church of England envoy who spent 1,763 days in captivity later devoted himself to writing, charitable work and support for hostage families.
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Sir Roger Bannister: the mile and the medical career
His record-breaking run at Oxford made sporting history; his life also included work as a neurologist and reported support for medical charities.
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David Attenborough: broadcasting the natural world
From Zoo Quest to landmark wildlife series, David Attenborough has brought natural history to television audiences and increasingly used his platform to speak about environmental pressures.
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Annie Lennox: music, reinvention and humanitarian campaigning
From Eurythmics and a celebrated solo career to sustained work on HIV/AIDS and women’s rights, the Scottish singer has joined creative ambition to public advocacy.
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Michael Palin: comedy, travel and a wider view of the world
From Monty Python sketches to journeys across continents, Michael Palin has built a career in comedy, writing and travel documentary.
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Emma Thompson: acting, writing and advocacy
From Cambridge Footlights to two Academy Awards, Emma Thompson has built a career in British theatre and film alongside sustained human-rights and environmental campaigning.
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The Rowntree family: chocolate, housing and social reform
From a York cocoa business to trusts addressing poverty, peace and political reform, the Rowntrees linked commercial success with social concerns.
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Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton: abolitionist and reformer
The Essex-born MP campaigned against slavery, pressed for changes to prisons and criminal law, and chaired the society that became the RSPCA.
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Bob Geldof: music, famine relief and the making of Live Aid
The Irish singer and activist brought musicians together for Band Aid and Live Aid, making fundraising for famine relief a defining part of his public life.
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Sir Nicholas Winton
The British stockbroker who helped organise the rescue of 669 children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War.
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Oxfam’s founders: the Oxford committee formed in wartime
In 1942, a group in Oxford organised relief for famine-stricken Greece. Canon Theodore Richard Milford and businessman Cecil Jackson-Cole are among the founders associated with the charity’s early story.
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Mother Teresa and her connection with Britain
Her work was centred in India, but a British connection developed through Malcolm Muggeridge, the story told in Something Beautiful for God and people drawn to the Missionaries of Charity.
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David Livingstone: exploration, mission and the limits of a legend
The Scottish doctor and missionary mapped parts of central Africa and campaigned against slave trading, while his record also reflects the contradictions of Victorian exploration.
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Florence Nightingale: nursing, statistics and reform
From the Crimean hospitals to public-health campaigns in Britain and India, Nightingale used nursing and evidence to press for lasting change.
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Julian Clary: camp comedy, television and the stage
From The Joan Collins Fan Club to pantomime and children’s fiction, Clary has built a career around a distinctive comic voice.
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William Wilberforce
Leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire, known for his tireless campaigning and advocacy.
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Hale and Pace: a decade of British television comedy
Gareth Hale and Norman Pace moved from teacher training and London clubs to a long-running ITV sketch show, memorable characters and a Comic Relief number-one single.
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Robert Webb: comedy with Mitchell, and beyond
From Peep Show to sketch comedy, memoir and fiction, Webb has built a varied career across British television, radio, stage and books.
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James Corden: from British sitcoms to American late night
The co-creator of Gavin & Stacey built a varied career across British television and theatre before hosting The Late Late Show in the United States.
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Russell Howard
The English comedian moved from BBC radio and panel shows to a hit topical series and major live tours.
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Bill Bailey: comedy built around music, curiosity and the unexpected
From musical stand-up and Black Books to Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Strictly Come Dancing, Bailey has made versatility his calling card.
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