Historical Figures and Influential People in History

Tarquin the Proud

He was Rome's last king — deposed in a revolt so definitive that the Romans refused to use the word 'king' for the next five hundred years.

Open profile →

Theresa May

She stepped into leadership after a political earthquake, spent three years trying to deliver an exit few could agree on, and left office having defined a turbulent era.

Open profile →

Thomas Becket

He was Henry II's closest friend and most trusted official until Henry made him Archbishop of Canterbury — and then he became the king's most implacable enemy.

Open profile →

Thomas Cranmer

He helped Henry VIII get his first divorce, shaped the English Reformation, wrote the Book of Common Prayer, and was burned at the stake when the next monarch changed her mind about all of it.

Open profile →

Thomas Cromwell

He rose from the son of a blacksmith to the second most powerful man in England, dismantled the monasteries, and was executed when he arranged a royal marriage that went badly.

Open profile →

Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle

He mastered elections, patronage, and political survival so completely that he could dominate government for decades without ever appearing fully in control.

Open profile →

Tiberius Gracchus

He proposed giving land to Rome's dispossessed poor, was told it was unconstitutional, and pushed ahead anyway — setting a precedent that helped destroy the republic.

Open profile →

Trajan

He pushed Roman territory to its greatest extent, won wars the Senate called unwinnable, and built so much that the Romans chose him as the benchmark: emperors were wished to be 'luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan.'

Open profile →