Great people in the uk

Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540)
When he was chief minister to King Henry VIII, as touched upon in the BBC’s recent adaptation of Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell engineered the break with Rome. But he did more than advocate the Reformation – he started to define the rights and status of the English Parliament in England and the King’s relationship with Parliament: the idea that the highest law of the land is that which is voted for in Parliament and assented to by the King is one that remains to this day.
He was also a terrifically good organiser and a moderniser. It was he who instituted the registration of births, marriages and deaths in each parish, for example. He tried to break the power of the church, of aristocratic privileges; he sorted out the anomalies left over from medieval history, he brought in legislation to make things uniform, and to help the state to tax people effectively. He started to turn England into a modern power.
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722)
I wanted to include a general and decided that Marlborough was more significant than even the Duke of Wellington, who famously won the Battle of Waterloo, and Montgomery of Alamein, who helped turn round the Second World War. He was a particularly extraordinary general who won very significant battles against King Louis XIV of France, who at that time was the most powerful man in Europe.
Interestingly, he was also a diplomat and a politician – his wife was Queen Anne’s best friend – and he was a man who moved in the highest circles of governmental life, as well as the military. His diplomatic skills were fundamental to holding together the Grand Alliance, the coalition against Louis XIV. He lived to be a fine old man – he was 72 when he died. And, of course, he had a famous descendant – Sir Winston Churchill was born in the house that Marlborough built, at Blenheim Palace – named after one of his victories.
Joseph Banks (1743–1820)
Just as Shakespeare had an impact on global culture, I wanted to choose someone who had an impact on the birth and growth of science – and Joseph Banks had a huge effect both in his own work – he took part in one of the most significant scientific explorations with Captain Cook through the South pacific on Endeavour, bringing back hundreds of botanical specimens – but almost more importantly, as a hub for other scientists. He got Kew Gardens up and running, but he was also patron of Herschel, one of greatest astronomers and discoverer of Uranus, and the chemist and inventor of the Davy miner’s lamp, Humphrey Davy. He was a kind of one-man lobbying group for science, as President of the Royal Society for 41 years. He was at the centre of this remarkable upsurge in science and exploration, taking Britain to the very forefront of world science. Much of that research would allow Britain to develop the biggest economy in the world, and would lead on to real economic benefits in a generation.