History hero

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

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

My history hero: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)

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

My history hero: Mario Lanza (1921-59)

Portrait of Henry V of England

My history hero: Henry V

John F Kennedy pictured in 1957

My history hero: John F Kennedy (1917–63)

An undated portrait of Hypatia

My history hero: Hypatia (cAD 370–415)

Portrait of King Henry VIII

History heroNathaniel Parker chooses Henry VIII (1491-1547)

The mahogany wooden interior of the Glasgow School of Art

My history hero: Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928)

Artist Leonora Carrington

My history hero: Leonora Carrington (1917–2011)

Emmeline Pankhurst

My history hero: Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928)

Jane Austen

My history heroJane Austen (1775–1817)

John Sergeant

My history hero: Arthur Ransome

Comic Sam Kinison

My history hero: Sam Kinison (1953-92)

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)

Eleanor Roosevelt

My history hero: Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)

England captain Bobby Moore

My history hero: Bobby Moore

Samuel Pepys portrait

My history hero: Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)

Portrait of Hendrik Witbooi

My history hero: Hendrik Witbooi (born c1830)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

My history hero: Yolanda of Aragon (d1442)

Khudadad Khan

My history hero: Khudadad Khan (1888-1971)

"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

My history hero: Robert Baden Powell (1857–1941)

My History Hero: Franklin D Roosevelt (1882- 1945)

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)