Who's who in The Book "Eighteen"

Characters in "Eighteen" by Alice Loxton
Source: English Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia
Click on each image to access the character's information.

(1) Bede the Venerable

1. Bede (Saint Bede the Venerable)

• 📅 Born: c. 672/673, Northumbria – Died: 26 May 735, Jarrow.

• ⭐ Anglo-Saxon monk, historian, and theologian.

• 📌 Author of "Ecclesiastical History of the English People," a key work for understanding the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. He was a scholar of chronology and biblical commentary. He spent his life in the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Doctor of the Church (1899).

Links:

> Britannica - Saint Bede the Venerable

(2) Empress Matilda

2. Empress Matilda (Matilda of England)

• 📅 Born: 7 Feb 1102 – Died: 10 Sept 1167, Rouen.

• ⭐ Daughter of Henry I, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, and claimant to the English throne.

• 📌 Protagonist of the civil war known as The Anarchy against her cousin Stephen. She was proclaimed Lady of the English but never crowned. Mother of Henry II, the first Plantagenet king. A central figure in medieval English succession.

Links:

England's Uncrowned Queen | Mother Of The Plantagenet Dynasty | The Formidable Empress Matilda

(3) Geoffrey Chaucer

3. Geoffrey Chaucer

• 📅 Born: c. 1343, London – Died: 25 Oct 1400.

• ⭐ Poet, diplomat, and royal official.

• 📌 Author of "The Canterbury Tales," considered the foundational work of English literature in the vernacular language. He traveled to Italy and France on diplomatic missions and absorbed literary influences. Buried in Westminster Abbey, inaugurating "Poets' Corner."

(4) Jacques Francis

4. Jacques Francis

• 📅 Born: c. 1527 (probably Mauritania) – Active until after 1548.

• ⭐ African salvage diver in Tudor England.

• 📌 Led the recovery of treasures from Henry VIII's Mary Rose. First known African person to testify in an English court. Although accused of being a slave, he received a salary and was recognized as free to testify. 

(5) - Elizabeth I

5. Lady Elizabeth

• 📅 Born: September 7, 1533 – Died: March 24, 1603

• ⭐ Queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603)

• 📌 Last Tudor monarch. Her reign saw a flourishing of the arts (Shakespeare, Elizabethan theater), maritime expansion (Drake, Raleigh), and the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588). Known as "the Virgin Queen." She consolidated the English Protestant identity.

(6) - Jeffrey Hudson

6. Jeffrey Hudson ("Lord Minimus")

• 📅 Born: 1619, Oakham – Died: c. 1682

• ⭐ Court dwarf of Queen Henrietta Maria (wife of Charles I)

• 📌 Presented at a banquet inside a cake, he became a court celebrity. He participated in the English Civil War. After a duel in France, he was exiled. His life reflects the excesses, spectacles, and hierarchies of the court.

(7) - Flora MacDonald

7. Fionnghal nic Dhòmhnaill (Flora MacDonald)

• 📅 Born: 1722, South Uist, Scotland – Died: March 5, 1790

• ⭐ Jacobite heroine

• 📌 Helped "Bonnie Prince Charlie" escape after the defeat at Culloden (1746), disguising him as a servant. An iconic figure of Scottish courage, celebrated in popular memory and the Jacobite cause.

(8) - Horatio Nelson

8. Horatio Nelson (Lord Nelson)

• 📅 Born: September 29, 1758 – Died: October 21, 1805, Battle of Trafalgar

• ⭐ British admiral, naval hero

• 📌 Victorious in decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars. He lost an arm and partial vision in one eye in combat. At Trafalgar, he defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet, securing British naval supremacy. He died in action, becoming a national hero.

(9) - Sarah Biffen

9. Sarah Biffin (or Biffen)

• 📅 Born: October 25, 1784 – Died: October 2, 1850.

• ⭐ Miniature painter.

• 📌 Born without functional arms or legs (phocomelia). She learned to paint with her mouth and shoulder. Exhibited at fairs as “the child without limbs,” she later received patronage from the nobility. She exhibited at the Royal Academy. Her art challenged prejudices about disability.

(10) Mary Anning

10. Mary Anning

• 📅 Born: May 21, 1799 – Died: March 9, 1847.

• ⭐ Paleontologist and fossil collector.

• 📌 Discovered key fossils (ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs) on the cliffs of Lyme Regis. Contributed to the nascent field of paleontology, though without formal recognition during her lifetime due to being a woman and of humble origins. Today she is an icon of science.

(11) - Isambard Kingdom Brunel

11. Isambard Kingdom Brunel

• 📅 Born: April 9, 1806 – Died: September 15, 1859.

• ⭐ Civil engineer and inventor.

• 📌 Designed innovative bridges, tunnels, railways, and ships. Among his achievements: the Great Western Railway, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and the first iron steam-powered transatlantic ships. An emblematic figure of the British Industrial Revolution.

(12) - Elsie Inglis

12. Elsie Inglis

• 📅 Born: August 16, 1864 – Died: November 26, 1917.

• ⭐ Doctor, suffragist, and philanthropist.

• 📌 Founded hospitals for women and led women's medical units during World War I, providing care in Serbia and Russia. A pioneer in opening opportunities for women in medicine.

Links:

Who was Elsie Inglis? Scotland's trailblazers, legends, creators and innovators

(13) - Vita Sackville-West

13. Vita Sackville-West

• 📅 Born: March 9, 1892 – Died: June 2, 1962.

• ⭐ Writer, poet, and gardener.

• 📌 An aristocrat, lover of Virginia Woolf (who was inspired by her to write Orlando). She published poetry and novels and was famous as a garden designer, especially of Sissinghurst Castle Garden. An icon of creative and sexual freedom in her time.

(14)- C.S. Lewis

14. Jack Lewis (C. S. Lewis)

• 📅 Born: November 29, 1898 – Died: November 22, 1963.

• ⭐ Writer, academic, Christian apologist.

• 📌 Author of The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity. Professor at Oxford and Cambridge. His work combines fantasy, theology, and literary criticism. His childhood nickname was “Jack,” which he used throughout his life.

(15) - Rosalind Franklin

15. Rosalind Franklin

• 📅 Born: July 25, 1920 – Died: April 16, 1958.

• ⭐ Chemist and crystallographer.

• 📌 Her X-ray diffraction images (Photo 51) allowed Watson and Crick to deduce the double helix structure of DNA. She also researched viruses and coal. She died young from cancer. Today she is recognized as a pioneering scientist and a victim of gender bias in science.

(16) - Richard Burton

16. Richard Burton (actor)

Profession/importance: Welsh actor of stage and film, famous for his powerful baritone voice and his intense performances—especially in Shakespeare and in dramatic film roles. He was one of the great British stars of the 20th century. 

Notable Films and Roles: His film debut was in The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949); memorable performances in My Cousin Rachel (1952), Becket (1964), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Cleopatra (1963), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and Equus (1977).

Wikipedia

Awards and Recognition: He was nominated for an Academy Award several times (seven nominations throughout his career) but never won; he did receive other awards (BAFTA, Golden Globe, Tony, etc.).

(17) - Vivienne Westwood

17. Vivienne Westwood

• 📅 Born: April 8, 1941 – Died: December 29, 2022

• ⭐ British fashion designer

• 📌 A key figure in punk and alternative fashion of the 70s. She popularized the rebellious aesthetic, associated with the Sex Pistols. She founded her own brand, influencing decades of fashion design. Political and environmental activist.

(18) - Rae DeDarre