Historical people

My history heroJeremy Bowen chooses Vincent Sheean

Mikhail Gorbachev as seen in a 1995 portrait. His leadership saw the Soviet Union undergo dramatic reform, leading to its dissolution in 1991 (Photo by Dana Gluckstein / mptvimages / eyevine)

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as a Cold War hero or a failed idealist: the historians' verdict

Former British Prime Minister John Major (left) and Johnny Lee Miller as John Major in The Crown

John Major: a brief guide to Britain’s prime minister in the 1990s

Jan Žižka: one of history's greatest military leaders, who was blind but undefeated

Kleisthenes is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BCE. For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as 'The Father of Athenian Democracy'. (Picture by Alamy)

15 minutes of fameMichael Scott chooses Kleisthenes

Chaucer’s disputed legacy: new discoveries

Black History MonthThe slave who stole a ship and sailed to freedom

Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson: a tale of tragedy and survival in the Antarctic

Two-Penny Whist, published January 11, 1796, James Gillray (English, 1756-1815), published by Hannah Humphrey (English, c. 1745-1818), England, Etching in dark brown, with handcoloring, on cream wove paper, 231 × 334 mm (image), 247 × 350 mm (plate), 270 × 384 mm (sheet). (Photo by: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

15 minutes of fameHannah Greig chooses Hannah Humphrey

Image of Aina Forbes Bonetta and her husband, James Davies (GettyImages-3318942)

15 minutes of fameHannah Cusworth chooses Aina Forbes Bonetta

The Napoleon of Fleet Street

Coloured engraving of Malintzin

General Early Modern

15 minutes of fameCaroline Dodds Pennock chooses Malintzin

Hannah HumphreyEntrepreneurial Georgian printseller

Mussolini salutes in front of the statue of the Roman emperor Nerva, in the 1930s

How Italian dictator Benito Mussolini became the first face of fascism

Why we should remember…the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent

KleisthenesFather of Athenian democracy

Aina Forbes BonettaQueen Victoria’s Yoruba goddaughter

MalintzinAztec interpreter

Writer JRR Tolkien smokes a pipe

JRR TolkienThe making of Middle Earth

Baron Franz Nopcsa in Albanian uniform.

15 minutes of fameTom Holland chooses Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás

An illustration of fossil hunter Dorothea Bate

Dorothea Bate: A fearless fossil hunter

St Hadrian of Canterbury

15 minutes of fameMichael Wood chooses St Hadrian

St Hadrian of CanterburyMedieval African theologian

Robin Hood: everything you wanted to know

How one woman liberated a notorious US slave jail

Historian Fern Riddell

15 minutes of fameFern Riddell chooses Charley Wilson

Portraits of William III and Mary II, the only joint sovereigns in British history

Your guide to William and Mary, the only joint sovereigns in British history

Is Queen Henrietta Maria’s rotten reputation deserved?

Historian Leanda de Lisle photographed at her home with her dog Millie

Leanda de Lisle“Henrietta Maria has been looked at far too much through the male gaze”

15 minutes of fameHakim Adi chooses Alice Kinloch