Historical figures in London
The atlas holds 249 people and 882 moments here, from 1374 to 2025. The most recorded lives are Charles Dickens, John Milton and William Blake. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Scientists, across the Space Age and the Cold War.
Notable people
Sarojini Naidu
from 1895 to 1931
5 moments here
Indian poet, nationalist, women’s-rights advocate, president of the Indian National Congress, and first governor of the United Provinces.…
Sebastián Piñera
from 2010 to 2021
2 moments here
Chilean economist, businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2022.…
Sergei Rachmaninoff
from 1899 to 1938
3 moments here
Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Born in the Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire, he studied and worked chiefly in Saint…
Shinzo Abe
in 2007
1 moment here
Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020.…
Sigmund Freud
from 1938 to 1939
4 moments here
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. This chronology traces documented locations from his Moravian birthplace and Viennese education…
Simón Bolívar
in 1810
1 moment here
Venezuelan military and political leader known as El Libertador. Bolívar led revolutionary campaigns that helped secure the independence of…
Sri Aurobindo
from 1884 to 1887
3 moments here
Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghose) was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, poet, and yogi. His documented movements run from childhood in Bengal and…
Srinivasa Ramanujan
from 1914 to 1917
2 moments here
Indian mathematician whose documented life moved between Tamil Nadu, southern India, England, and back to India.…
Stanley Kubrick
from 1949 to 1985
3 moments here
American filmmaker and photographer whose career began in New York photojournalism, expanded through Hollywood productions and European location…
Stephen Hawking
from 2012 to 2015
2 moments here
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author whose work on singularities, black-hole thermodynamics, and Hawking radiation reshaped modern…
Sun Yat-sen
in 1896
2 moments here
Chinese physician, revolutionary, and political thinker who founded the Republic of China and the Kuomintang.…
Thomas Hobbes
from 1651 to 1660
2 moments here
English philosopher and political theorist, best known for Leviathan (1651). Hobbes’s documented movements include study at Oxford, European travel…
Thomas Jefferson
in 1786
1 moment here
Thomas Jefferson was an American lawyer, Virginia political leader, diplomat, secretary of state, vice president, and third president of the United…
Thomas More
from 1478 to 1535
10 moments here
English lawyer, humanist author, royal councillor, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Lord Chancellor under…
Tony Curtis
from 1970 to 2006
2 moments here
American actor Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz) worked in film, television, theatre, and painting over a career spanning six decades.…
T. S. Eliot
from 1914 to 1965
9 moments here
Thomas Stearns Eliot was a St. Louis-born poet, critic, editor, and playwright who studied in Massachusetts, Paris, Germany, and Oxford before making…
Tunku Abdul Rahman
from 1939 to 1956
3 moments here
Malaysian statesman, UMNO leader, chief minister of the Federation of Malaya, and first prime minister of Malaya and Malaysia.…
Vincent van Gogh
from 1873 to 1876
3 moments here
Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose documented movements trace a path from a Brabant childhood through work and religious study in the…
Virginia Woolf
from 1882 to 1924
11 moments here
English novelist, essayist, critic and publisher; a central figure in modernist literature and the Bloomsbury Group.…
Vivien Leigh
from 1931 to 1967
10 moments here
British actress Vivien Leigh (born Vivian Mary Hartley) was acclaimed for stage work and for Academy Award-winning performances as Scarlett O'Hara in…
Vladimir Lenin
from 1902 to 1908
5 moments here
Russian Marxist revolutionary, Bolshevik leader, political theorist, and founding head of government of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union.…
Voltaire
from 1726 to 1727
3 moments here
François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, dramatist, and philosopher.…
V. S. Naipaul
from 1954 to 2018
6 moments here
Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was a Trinidad-born British novelist, essayist, and travel writer.…
William Blake
from 1757 to 1827
16 moments here
English poet, painter, and printmaker. Blake spent nearly all of his life in London, apart from his 1800–1803 residence at Felpham in Sussex.…
Moments
- 1930 London residence James Joyce
- 1930 First overseas tour: England Helen Keller
- 1931 Detention at Bethnal Green police station George Orwell
- 1931 Presents City Lights at the Dominion Charlie Chaplin
- 1931 Marriage to Nora Barnacle James Joyce
- 1931 Lives at Kingsley Hall Mahatma Gandhi
- 1932 Third trip abroad: England Helen Keller
- 1933 Addresses Royal Albert Hall Albert Einstein
- 1934 Bookseller at Booklovers' Corner George Orwell
- 1935 Residence at Lawford Road George Orwell
- 1936 World Encyclopaedia address H. G. Wells
- 1936 Death at Middlesex Hospital Rudyard Kipling
- 1936 Appears at London Surrealist exhibition Salvador Dalí
- 1936 European journey with Polly Thomson Helen Keller
- 1936 British Academy Beowulf lecture J. R. R. Tolkien
- 1937 Return to LSE lecturing Bertrand Russell
- 1937 Convalescence at Greenwich George Orwell
- 1937 Emergency operation in London Ernest Rutherford
- 1938 Reaches London and takes temporary refuge Sigmund Freud
- 1938 Worked at the London embassy John F. Kennedy
- 1938 Meets Sigmund Freud Salvador Dalí
- 1938 Moves into Maresfield Gardens Sigmund Freud
- 1938 Undergoes his final operation in London Sigmund Freud
- 1939 Government Code and Cypher School course J. R. R. Tolkien
- 1939 Attended Parliament's war speeches John F. Kennedy
- 1939 Returned to wartime London John F. Kennedy
- 1939 Dies at Maresfield Gardens Sigmund Freud
- 1940 Wartime base at Lansdowne Terrace George Orwell
- 1940 Flat at Dorset Chambers George Orwell
- 1940 First meeting with Churchill Charles de Gaulle
- 1940 Free French headquarters at Carlton Gardens Charles de Gaulle
- 1940 Treasury wartime adviser John Maynard Keynes
- 1941 Moved into Isokon Flats Agatha Christie
- 1941 Worked in University College Hospital pharmacy Agatha Christie
- 1941 Flat at Langford Court George Orwell
- 1941 Dispensary work at Guy's Hospital Ludwig Wittgenstein
- 1942 Residence in Hampstead Charles de Gaulle
- 1942 Flat at Mortimer Crescent George Orwell
- 1942 Mission to London Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1942 Commanding General of ETOUSA Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1942 Takes seat in House of Lords John Maynard Keynes
- 1943 Tube Alloys office Niels Bohr
- 1944 London arrival as war correspondent Ernest Hemingway
- 1944 Arrival at RAF Northolt Charles de Gaulle
- 1944 Home at Canonbury Square George Orwell
- 1945 Celebrated VE Day in London Elizabeth II
- 1945 Return to London Kwame Nkrumah
- 1945 London coverage of the general election George Orwell
- 1945 Loan speech in the House of Lords John Maynard Keynes
- 1946 Newton celebration at the Royal Society Max Planck