Famous First Names

Henry Spencer Moore

(1898 - 1986), English sculptor. His monumental bronze sculptures, often semi-abstract in style but always based on organic form, resulted in him becoming one of the best known modern sculptors.

Norman Hartnell

(1901-79), a British fashion designer. He designed dresses for Queen Elizabeth II.

Daniel Defoe

(1600 - 1731), English novelist. His most famous works are the novels, 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Moll Flanders'.

Hugh MacDiarmid

[the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve], (1892-1978), Scottish poet and critic. He is best known for his poem "A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle".

Ernest Henry Shackleton

[Sir], (1874 - 1922), Anglo-Irish explorer. He served in Robert Scott's Antarctic expedition, and later commanded two further expeditions - in 1908-09 and 1914-16.

Andrew Lloyd Webber

(1948 - ), English composer. Working with Tim Rice he composed several highly successful musicals, including "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat", "Evita", "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera".

Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith

[Sir], (1888 - 1989), English aeronautical engineer. The Sopwith Aviation Company was set up in 1912. He designed and built the Sopwith Camel, one of the most successful fighter planes of World War I.

William Blake

(1757 - 1827), English poet and artist. He is considered to be one of the greatest of the English Romantic poets.

Thomas Chippendale

(c. 1717-79), a famous English furniture designer.

George Stubbs

(1724 - 1806), English painter and engraver. He is best known for his paintings of horses.