History hero

Celebrities and popular figures choose their heroes from history. Browse these interviews to find out more about the people they chose…

Jane Austen

My history heroJane Austen (1775–1817). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

John Sergeant

My history hero: Arthur Ransome. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Comic Sam Kinison

My history hero: Sam Kinison (1953-92). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William Hogarth

My history hero: William Hogarth (1697–1764)

A statue of celebrated English nurse and wartime heroine, Edith Cavell

First World War

History heroKate Mosse chooses Edith Cavell (1865–1915)

Pliny the Elder depicted in a mid-12th century miniature, writing and giving his book to Roman emperor Vespasian. (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)

My history heroPliny the Elder (AD 23–79). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Eleanor Roosevelt

My history hero: Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

England captain Bobby Moore

My history hero: Bobby Moore. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Samuel Pepys portrait

My history hero: Samuel Pepys (1633-1703). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Hendrik Witbooi

My history hero: Hendrik Witbooi (born c1830). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie Mandela upon his release from prison. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

My history heroNelson Mandela (1918-2013). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist and socialist Cyril Lionel Robert James talking to a group of students at Speakers' Corner, London, in 1967. (Photo by Roy Milligan/Daily Express/Getty Images)

My history hero: CLR James (1901–89). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

French writer and futurist Jules Verne. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Jules Verne (1828–1905). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British film director Alfred Hitchcock perched on either arm in a promotional still for his film, 'The Birds', c1963. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

My history hero: Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Journalist Ruth First, pictured right, at Anti-Apartheid Movement's freedom day rally in Trafalgar Square, London in 1965. Also pictured are actor Patrick Wymark (left) and Bishop Reeves (middle). (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

My history hero: Ruth First (1925-82). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My history hero: Yolanda of Aragon (d1442). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Khudadad Khan

My history hero: Khudadad Khan (1888-1971). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

"Nobody could have held their nerve in Normandy like Monty did," says Al Murray of the wartime general. (Photo by Mark Kauffman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Bernard Montgomery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My history hero: Robert Baden Powell (1857–1941). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My History Hero: Franklin D Roosevelt (1882- 1945). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraved depiction of John Lilburne, who "stands as a towering icon of the liberal tradition". (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

My history hero: John Lilburne (c1615-57)

My history hero: John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History heroJo Brand chooses Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My history hero: Horatio Nelson (1758-1805). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The 16th president of the United States "understood the value of hard work, had deep beliefs and pursued them," says Alastair Campbell. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

My history hero: Abraham Lincoln (1809–65). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My history hero: Clara Schumann (1819-96). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

John Linnell's 1816 portrait of Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick. His high-pressure steam engine "was the invention that unleashed power on this planet," says Michael Mosley. (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

My history hero: Richard Trevithick (1771-1833). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century English poet and novelist perhaps best known for his books 'Treasure Island' and the 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

My history hero: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rosa Parks Riding the Bus

My history hero: Rosa Parks (1913-2005). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British political cartoonist David Low. His caricatures of political figures including Hitler resulted in him being placed in the Nazi 'Black Book' – a list of prominent Britons who were to be arrested in the case of a successful invasion of Britain. (Photo by Felix Man/Picture Post/Getty Images

My history hero: Sir David Low (1891–1963). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.