Charles Dickens

a world famous English writer who wrote some of the most popular and widely read novels of the 19th century, from Oliver Twist to A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson (1850–1894)

was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and so on.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 – 1973)

was an English philologist, writer and university professor, best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900)

was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. The Importance of Being Earnest, The Canterville Ghost (1887) The Picture of Dorian Gray

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882 – 1941)

was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its highly controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939) as well as the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)

was an English author and poet, born in India, and best known today for his children's books, including The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906); his novel, Kim (1901); his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), and "If—" (1910); and his many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) and the collections Life's Handicap (1891), The Day's Work (1898), and Plain Tales from the Hills (1888). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story";

Music

John Lennon
John Lennon was a musician and composer who was a member of the Beatles, the biggest rock band of the 1960s.

Sir Paul McCartney
McCartney was a singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Beatles, the biggest rock band of the 1960s.

George Harrison (1943-2001) and Ringo Starr (born 1940), composers, members of The Beatles

David Bowie
David Bowie, is a British rock and roll musician, actor, and artist who has had a profound influence on rock and roll from the 1960s to the present.

Sir Cliff Richard
One of the UK's most popular singers of all time

Eric Clapton (born 1945) Grammy Award winning English guitarist, singer and composer, who is one of the most successful musicians of the 20th century.

Among the most famous singers are: Sir Elton John, (born 1947), pop star and composer, Rod Stewart (born 1945), Robbie Williams (born 1974), etc.

World famous English bands include:The Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin

Pink Floyd,Radiohead, etc.

Composers

William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, John Blow, Henry Purcell, Edward Elgar, Arthur Sullivan, William Walton, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett have made major contributions to British music, and are known internationally. Living composers include John Tavener, Harrison Birtwistle, Andrew Lloyd Webber composer of musicals, and Oliver Knussen.

Cinema/Theatre

Charlie Chaplin, (1889-1977)

is a world famous actor and a filmmaker who produced, directed, and starred in such classics as The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Limelight (1952).

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)

British-U.S. film director. He proved himself the master of the thriller with The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), and The Lady Vanishes (1938). Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963) etc.

Guy Ritchie (born 1968) a modern English writer-director. His feature films include the successful Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Swept Away Revolver.

The most famous English actors of the past are Sir Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) and Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).

Among the modern actors are:

Rowan Atkinson (born 1955) is famous for his Mr. Bean role.

Hugh Grant (born 1960) is famous for the roles in Notting Hill, Love Actually etc.

Gary Oldman (born 1958) an award winning actor who played in numerous films: Dracula, Sid and Nancy and many other

Emma Thompson (born 1959) an award winning actress, for the films Sense and Sensibility, the Remnants of the Day etc.

Orlando Bloom (born 1977) – a young actor Lord of the Rings, Pirates of Caribbean, etc.

Sport

David Beckham
Beckham is a leading English footballer and a former star of the legendary team Manchester United.

Sir Steve Redgrave
A British rower who won a gold medal at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000, as well as an additional bronze medal in 1988. As the only Briton ever to achieve this feat, he is widely considered to be Britain's greatest Olympian.

Vocabulary notes

abolition of slavery - отмена, уничтожение рабства и работорговли

celebrity - знаменитость, известная личность

conspirator – заговорщик

differential calculus - дифференциальное исчисление

duke - герцог

director - режиссер

Much Ado About Nothing - Много шума из ничего (пьеса Шекспира)

overthrow - свержение; низвержение

Peninsular War - Пиренейская война (1804-1814 г между Францией с одной стороны и Испанией, Португалией и Англией с другой)

polymath - эрудит

rower – гребец