'A witty, unforgettable celebration of the courage, genius and defiance that changed the course of history' Jacob Rees-Mogg 'Gimson makes excellent cases for all his choices. His "cardinal point" about heroes, "seen from Homer to Hollywood, is that they are enjoyable". That is so right: no one who is immensely worthy but boring can be a hero' Charles Moore 'This is a lovely book to dip in and out of, every visit an education' John Rentoul A brilliant compendium of Britain's most renowned heroes from Boudicca to Mandela, illustrated by Martin Rowson. Heroes have flaws, but their stories stir the soul. In Gimson's Heroes, bestselling author Andrew Gimson traces the lives of fifty astonishing individuals who had the courage to defy conventional wisdom. From Horatio Nelson disobeying orders to Lord Byron scandalising polite society; Grace Darling rowing through a deadly storm to Florence Nightingale teaching the British how to nurse - these icons are no mere monuments of history, but living, breathing people of daring and defiance. Here are stories of resolve and sacrifice: Wallace Hartley plays on as the Titanic goes down, Noor Inayat Khan refuses to flee from occupied France, Stan Hollis storms an enemy pillbox and Nelson Mandela brings down the white regime in South Africa. A hero, Gimson concludes, is someone with the courage, originality and genius to see what must be done - and to dare to do it, no matter the cost. Complemented by Martin Rowson's uniquely charming illustrations, Gimson's Heroes is a witty, fascinating and lively celebration of the extraordinary legacies of those who went further than most would ever dream. The fifty Heroes included in the book are: Boudicca c.25-60/61 AD Alfred the Great 848-899 King Harold c.1022-1066 Robert the Bruce 1274-1329 Julian of Norwich 1342-1416 Owain Glyndwr c.1359 - c.1415 Bess of Hardwick c.1522 or 1527-1608 Queen Elizabeth I 1533-1603 Sir Francis Drake 1540-1596 Sir Walter Raleigh 1552-1618 Sir Philip Sidney 1554-1586 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 George Herbert 1593-1633 Gerrard Winstanley 1609-1676 Prince Rupert of the Rhine 1619-1682 Robert Boyle 1627-1691 Thomas Coram 1668-1751 Samuel Johnson 1709-1784 James Wolfe 1727-1759 Edmund Burke 1729-1797 James Boswell 1740-1795 Thomas Telford 1757-1834 Horatio Nelson 1758-1805 Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797 Thomas Clarkson 1760-1846 Jane Austen 1775-1817 Elizabeth Fry 1780-1845 George Stephenson 1781-1848 Lord Byron 1788-1824 Lord Shaftesbury 1801-1885 Benjamin Disraeli 1804-1881 Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1806-1859 Charles Dickens 1812-1870 David Livingstone 1813-1873 Grace Darling 1815-1842 Prince Albert 1819-1861 Florence Nightingale 1820-1910 Octavia Hill 1838-1912 Fred Burnaby 1842-1885 Ernest Shackleton 1874-1922 Sir Winston Churchill 1874-1965 Wallace Hartley 1878-1912 Ernest Bevin 1881-1951 The Unknown Warrior died c. 1914 John Betjeman 1906-1984 Stan Hollis 1912-1972 Michael Wharton 1913-2006 Noor Inayat Khan 1914-1944 Prince Alexander Obolensky 1916-1940 Nelson Mandela 1918-2013 Praise for the three previous Gimson books: Gimson's Kings & Queens: Brief Lives of the Monarchs since 1066 'The most entertaining and instructive book on the English monarchy you will ever read' Daily Telegraph Gimson's Prime Ministers: Brief Lives from Walpole to Johnson 'The best general book on British politics I've ever come across. Learned, witty and wise, and splendidly illustrated by Martin Rowson' Tibor Fischer, Guardian Gimson's Presidents: Brief Lives from Washington to Trump 'This is history at its liveliest and most enjoyable. Most presidential biographies are abominably long-winded and reverential. With miniaturist wit and precision, Gimson manages to compress all the salient facts about each president into five or six pages, while offering beautifully crafted insights into their characters and temperaments ...There is something fascinating or funny on every page' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday