The most important British people (Reading)

The most important British people

Winston Churchill

Winston was born November 30th, 1874 in Oxfordshire, England. He was actually born in a room in a palace named Blenheim Palace. His parents were wealthy aristocrats. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a politician who held many high offices in the British government. 

Churchill attended the Royal Military College and joined the British cavalry upon graduation. He traveled to many places while with the military and worked as a newspaper correspondent, writing stories about battles and being in the military. While in South Africa during the Second Boer War, Winston Churchill was captured and became a Prisoner of War. He managed to escape from prison and traveled 300 miles to be rescued. As a result, he became something of a hero in Britain for a while. 

In 1900 Churchill was elected to Parliament. Over the next 30 years he would hold a number of different offices in the government including a cabinet post in 1908. His career had many ups and downs during this time, but he also became famous for many of his writings. 
At the outbreak of World War II, Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in command of the Royal Navy. At the same time the current Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, wanted to appease Germany and Hitler. Churchill knew this would not work and warned the government that they needed to help fight Hitler or Hitler would soon take over all of Europe. As Germany continued to advance, the country lost confidence in Chamberlain. Finally, Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill was chosen to be his successor as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940. 
Soon after becoming Prime Minister, Germany invaded France and Britain was alone in Europe fighting Hitler. Churchill inspired the country to keep fighting despite the bad circumstances. He also helped to forge an alliance of Allied Powers with the Soviet Union and the United States. Even though he did not like Joseph Stalin and the communists of the Soviet Union, he knew the Allies needed their help to fight Germany. 
With the Allies help, and Winston's leadership, the British were able to hold off Hitler. After a long and brutal war they were able to defeat Hitler and the Germans. 
After the war, Churchill's party lost the election and he was no longer Prime Minister. He was still a major leader in the government, however. He was again elected Prime Minister in 1951. He served the country for many years and then retired. He died on January 24, 1965. Churchill was concerned about the Soviet Union and the Red Army. He felt they were just as dangerous as Hitler now that the Germans were defeated. He was right as soon after World War II ended, the Cold War between the Western nations of NATO (such as Britain, France, USA) and communist Soviet Union began. 

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was born in England on the 12th of February 1809, he died on the 19th of April 1882.

He is most famous for his work on natural selection, the idea that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors. This process involves favorable traits becoming more common in successive generations of living things while at the same time unfavorable traits become less common.

Not only did Darwin develop the idea of natural selection, he also presented compelling evidence from his detailed research which included a five year voyage on the HMS Beagle. On this voyage, Darwin visited ecologically diverse regions such as Brazil, Chile, Australia, the Falkland Islands and the Galapagos Islands.

His 1859 book ‘On the Origin of Species’, detailed much of his research on natural selection, it contained a large amount of evidence to back up his ideas and became a landmark work in the field of evolutionary biology.

Darwin’s ideas created a lot of discussion regarding the impact on various scientific, religious and philosophical viewpoints. Although most of those in educated society accepted the theory of evolution, many still challenge its existence despite the wealth of evidence supporting it.

Although in later life Darwin suffered from a range of illnesses, he continued with his research and undertook new experiments to help support his ideas while at the same time forming new ones in other fields.

Other famous work by Charles Darwin includes: ‘The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals’, ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’, ‘The Power of Movement in Plants’ and ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms’.

William Shakespeare

Very little is known about William Shakespeare's childhood. He was born in the English city of Stratford-upon-Avon about 100 miles northwest of London in 1564. William's father was a successful leather merchant who once held the public position of alderman. He was the third of six children including two older sisters and three younger brothers. Growing up in Stratford-upon-Avon William lived in a house with his big family on Henley Street. He went to the local grammar school where he learned about poetry, history, Greek, and Latin. When William turned eighteen he married Anne Hathaway. Anne was eight years older than William. They soon had a family including a daughter named Susanna and twins named Hamnet and Judith.After William and Anne had the twins, there are no records of the next several years of his life. Historians often refer to these years as the "lost years." There are lots of theories and stories about what William was doing during this time. In any event, he and his family eventually ended up in London where William was working at the theatre. 
William was part of an acting company called Lord Chamberlain's Men. An acting company in England at this time worked together to put on plays. There were typically around ten actors in a company including a lead actor, character actors, and some comedians. Young boys typically played women's roles as women were not allowed to act. 
Shakespeare wrote plays for the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He worked as an actor as well. His plays became very popular in London and soon the Lord Chamberlain's Men were one of the most popular acting companies in the city. Some of Shakespeare's early plays include "The Taming of the Shrew", "Richard III", "Romeo and Juliet", and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". 
These early plays were put on at a theater called the "Theatre". While Lord Chamberlain's Men owned the Theatre, the land was owned by Giles Allen. In 1597 Allen decided he wanted to tear the Theatre down. He locked it up and refused to let the actors perform. They tried to renegotiate the lease on the land, but Allen again refused. One night, several members of the company dismantled the Theatre and moved the timber across the Thames River to another spot. There they built a new theatre called the Globe Theatre.
The Globe Theatre became the place to be in London. It could house up to 3,000 spectators and had a uniquely designed stage with a painted ceiling, columns, and stage wall. They had specially trained musicians who made special effects noises during the plays. They even had a cannon that fired blanks. 
Many of Shakespeare's greatest plays were written in the last half of his career. These included "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", and "Macbeth". His success in the theatre, as well as his investments in land and the Globe, made Shakespeare a wealthy man. He purchased a large home in Stratford for his family called New Place. 
Shakespeare also became famous for his poetry. His most famous poem of the time was "Venus and Adonis". He also wrote poems called sonnets. A book of 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets was published in 1609. 

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton is considered one of the most important scientists in history. Even Albert Einstein said that Isaac Newton was the smartest person that ever lived. During his lifetime Newton developed the theory of gravity, the laws of motion (which became the basis for physics), a new type of mathematics called calculus, and made breakthroughs in the area of optics such as the reflecting telescope. 
In 1661, Isaac began to attend college at Cambridge. He would spend much of his life at Cambridge, becoming a professor of mathematics and a fellow of the Royal Society (a group of scientists in England). He eventually was elected to represent Cambridge University as a member of parliament. Isaac had to leave Cambridge from 1665 to 1667 because of the Great Plague. He spent these two years in study and isolation at his home in Woolsthorpe developing his theories on calculus, gravity, and the laws of motion. In 1696 Newton became the warden of the Royal Mint in London. He took his duties seriously and tried to get rid of corruption as well as to reform the currency of England. He was elected President of the Royal Society in 1703 and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705.
In 1687 Newton published his most important work called the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (which means "Mathematical principals of Natural Philosophy"). In this work he described the three laws of motion as well as the law of universal gravity. This work would go down as one of the most important works in the history of science. It not only introduced the theory of gravity, but defined the principals of modern physics. 
Isaac Newton made many scientific discoveries and inventions throughout his career. Here is a list of some of the most important and famous ones. 

Gravity - Newton is probably most famous for discovering gravity. Outlined in the Principia, his theory about gravity helped to explain the movements of the planets and the Sun. This theory is known today as Newton's law of universal gravitation.

 Laws of Motion - Newton's laws of motion were three fundamental laws of physics that laid the foundation for classical mechanics. 

Calculus - Newton invented a whole new type of mathematics which he called "fluxions." Today we call this math calculus and it is an important type of math used in advanced engineering and science. 

Reflecting Telescope - In 1668 Newton invented the reflecting telescope. This type of telescope uses mirrors to reflect light and form an image. Nearly all of the major telescopes used in astronomy today are reflecting telescopes.

Which person... 

• travelled to Australia?
• was Prime Minister?
• wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?
• learned Latin and Greek?
• lived in London?
• wrote "Origin of Species"?
• studied at Cambridge?
• participated in the Second World War?
• created any theory?
• attended the Royal Military College?
• was President of the Royal Society?
• discovered gravity?