Overview

Why do some people find lasting fame for their achievements, whilst others lapse into obscurity? What makes an individual truly ""great""? This work explores the lives of ten men and women who have influenced our history, and examines why they continue to spark international interest and admiration. In 2001, the BBC ran a poll in which the British public were invited to vote for their favourite Briton. This book lists the top 100 figures and explores the characteristics these men and women share, including an analysis of the key role that image management has played in their success. The book is extensively illustrated with images from the collections of the National Portrait Gallery.

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9781855145078

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National polls to determine the greatest Britons of all time tend to come up with bizarre results (Robbie Williams, anyone?) but the importance of the ten figures discussed in this excellent book cannot be denied. Published by the National Portrait Gallery, its chosen greats are Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Cromwell, Newton, Nelson, Brunel, Darwin, Churchill, Lennon and Diana Princess of Wales, and for each there is an introductory essay and then an article about the way his or her images - from paintings and drawings to photography - have been preserved for posterity. The essays are of variable quality, as one might expect from authors ranging from Richard Holmes (on Cromwell) to Rosie Boycott (on Diana), but the quality of the main body of the book, by John Cooper, is excellent, and Brian Harrison's introductory discourse on biography is succinct and thought-provoking. As for the illustrations, 'magnificent' is the only word, from the 'Rainbow' portrait of Elizabeth I to the formal and informal photographs of Diana, and from the various and sometimes hilarious alleged portraits of Shakespeare to the infinitely moving photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken hours before his assassination. This is a small triumph of book-making, and in every way a delight. (Kirkus UK)

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