John Osborne
11 February 2026
Charles M Schulz, the cartoonist of melancholy
How the creator of Peanuts created humour from loneliness and sadness
Read the full article04 February 2026
Asma Jahangir, the woman who would not be silenced
Her confrontation with Pakistan’s military rulers was rooted in a lifetime of activism that began in childhood and never wavered
Read the full article28 January 2026
Coretta Scott King, the architect of a legacy
How the widow of Martin Luther King Jr transformed mourning into a lifelong movement
Read the full article21 January 2026
Victoria Ocampo, the woman who made Argentina a literary power
Dismissed by friends and launched in an era when women lacked the vote, Ocampo’s Sur magazine became a defining force in 20th-century literature and politics
Read the full article14 January 2026
Ham, the chimp that launched the space age
In 1961, before the first human reached space, a chimpanzee was strapped into a rocket and sent into the unknown
Read the full article07 January 2026
Miep Gies, the ambassador for Anne Frank’s diary
She was always adamant that she had done nothing heroic; that helping other people should be considered normal, not exceptional
Read the full article31 December 2025
Ágnes Keleti, the gymnast who resembled the Spirit of Ecstasy
Very few athletes have had to endure what the Hungarian went through in order to compete for her country
Read the full article17 December 2025
George Michael, the man on a quest for identity
Feeling not quite Greek but not quite British, a young Georgios went down the route of many uncertain teenagers – he chose Top of the Pops as his guide
Read the full article10 December 2025
Dinah Washington, the Queen of the Blues
The clarity of emotion she expressed over strings and a rhythm and blues beat came as naturally to her as breathing
Read the full article03 December 2025
Sócrates, the beautiful game’s great romantic
He never lifted the World Cup, but his intelligence and fight for democracy made him one of the nation’s most beloved footballing icons
Read the full article26 November 2025
Shane MacGowan, the poet laureate of chaos and loss
The Irishman had a rare ability to write about mood and place, to capture the rawness of what it is to be alive
Read the full article12 November 2025
Doris Lessing, the writer who filled her own world with stories just to survive
Lessing wrote not about poverty, but literary poverty – what happens when eager minds are deprived of books
Read the full article05 November 2025
Leonard Cohen, the poet laureate of gloom
His fans love his humour, his cheerful self-deprecation, his gritty gentleness, his ability to make sense of the brittleness of the world
Read the full article22 October 2025
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the football club owner who made dreams come true
The Thai duty-free magnate bought Leicester City and brought it the most unlikely title in English football history
Read the full article15 October 2025
Junko Tabei, the first woman to conquer Everest
Discouraged by the sexism she’d suffered in mountain climbing circles, Tabei took matters into her own hands
Read the full article08 October 2025
Thomas Sankara, the hopeful leader whose country proved ungrateful
It was a dedication to nature and equality that led to Sankara’s bloody removal
Read the full article01 October 2025
Emilie Schindler, one half of a team of equals
It was Emilie who organised the move of their factory to Brünnlitz, Czechoslovakia, one which would lead to the saving of 1,200 lives
Read the full article