History hero

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

Winston Churchill, 1941. (Photo by War Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

History heroBarbara Taylor Bradford chooses Winston Churchill (1874–1965). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American novelist John Updike

My history hero: John Updike (1932-2009). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Field Marshal Bill Slim

My history hero: Field Marshal Bill Slim (1891-1970). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Charles Dickens. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

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

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

Gertrude Bell. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

My history hero: Gertrude Bell (1868–1926). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bob Marley performs live on stage with the Wailers in Holland

My history hero: Bob Marley (1945–81). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Italian writer Primo Levi sitting at a desk in his study. Turin, 1981. (Photo by Sergio del GrandeMondadori PortfolioMondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

My history hero: Primo Levi (1919–87). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), 1797. Artist: Abbott, Lemuel Francis (1760-1802)

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

My history heroNick Knowles chooses Julius Caesar (100–44 BC). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Swiss psychiatrist Dr Carl Jung in his library at home. (Photo by Dmitri Kessel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Carl Jung (1875–1961). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Richard Wagner, 1883. (Photo By DEA/A Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images)

My History Hero: Richard Wagner (1813–83). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, a PPP candidate (Pakistan People's Party), campaigning from the sun roof of a car. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British comedian and actor Arthur Askey at the London Palladium, February 1968. (Photo by David Cairns/Daily Express/Getty Images)

History Hero: Arthur Askey (1900–82). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British leader of the Labour Party Clement Attlee leaves the Treasury, 27 May 1945. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

My history hero: Clement Attlee (1883–1967). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of Woody Guthrie c1970. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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

Statue of Toussaint Louverture, Palais National, Haiti. (Photo by Getty Images)

My history hero: Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Charlotte Brontë. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)

My history hero: Charlotte Brontë (1816-55). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My history hero: Sam Cooke (1931–64). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Maya Angelou was “the ultimate boundary-breaker”, says Naga Munchetty. (Photo by Craig Herndon/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

My history hero: Maya Angelou (1928–2014). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Douglas Bader in October 1940. “He was competitive, unruly, foolhardy – but also brilliant, brave and hugely talented,” says David Cameron. (Photo by Fg Off S A Devon/IWM via Getty Images)

My history hero: David Cameron chooses Douglas Bader (1910–82). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Seve Ballesteros. (Photo by Brian Morgan/Getty Images)

My history hero: Seve Ballesteros (1957–2011)

Lyndon B Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. (Photo by Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images)

My history hero: Lyndon Johnson (1908–73). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of William Shakespeare by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

My history hero: William Shakespeare (1564–1616). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Guillaume Apollinaire and his wife, Jacqueline Kolb, on the terrace of the boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, France, in 1918. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

My history hero: Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bhimrao Ambedkar, May 1946. (Photo by Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891–1956). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

President Ronald Reagan at Durenberger Republican convention rally, 1982. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

My history hero: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mario Lanza c1950. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Mario Lanza (1921-59). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Henry V of England

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

John F Kennedy pictured in 1957

My history hero: John F Kennedy (1917–63). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.