Otagowano: Famous Brits

Giles Gilbert Scott, designer of the red telephone kiosks Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) is said to have “fused tradition with modernity” in a very British way. He applied historic styles to industrial structures in...

Kathleen Ferrier, “the nation’s darling” An intriguing trend in pop music is the increasing number of successful singers with trained voices. In Britain, it’s not uncommon to find records by classically-trained singers in the...

Doris Lessing, the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007 Doris Lessing (1919-2013) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. She was born Doris May Tayler in Persia (now Iran) to British parents; in...

David William Duncan Cameron, “Tory boy” David William Duncan Cameron (b.1966) is Britain’s current Prime Minister. His father was a stockbroker and his mother a Justice of the Peace. He is of Scottish descent...

John Boyd Dunlop, inventor of the pneumatic tyre Anyone growing up in Britain between the 1900s and the 1980s would probably have used some items manufactured by the Dunlop Rubber Company – tennis balls...

Alastair Cook, cricketer; not a “flannelled fool” Cricketers were once referred to by Rudyard Kipling as “flannelled fools”, and later George Orwell observed that the sport was far less popular with the public than...

David Lloyd George, the only prime minister for whom English was a second language Compared to the Scots and the Irish, there are very few high-profile Welshmen, or Welshwomen, in twenty-first century British public...

Dame Vivienne Westwood, the woman who dressed the Sex Pistols Dame Vivienne Westwood is Britain’s bestknown fashion designer, and a highly successful businesswoman also known for her political campaigning. Born into a working-class family...

John Napier (1550-1617), “Scottish Archimedes” In the Edinburgh suburb of Merchiston there is a small campus of modern college buildings. Constructed in the 1960s to house a technical college, the complex blends fairly well...