* In the novel Perdido Street Station, by British author China Miéville, engines similar to Babbage's serve as " brains " for the robotic constructs of the city of New Crobuzon.

* Adrian Goldsworthy ( born 1969 ), British historian and author who writes mostly about ancient Roman history

* 1886 – Ruth Manning-Sanders, British author ( d. 1988 )

Helen Beatrix Potter ( 28 July 186622 December 1943 ) was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children ’ s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.

More recently, William D. Rubinstein, Professor of Modern History at Aberystwyth University, Wales, wrote that Conservative politician and pro-Zionist Leo Amery, as Assistant Secretary to the British war cabinet in 1917, was the main author of the Balfour Declaration.

Cyril Northcote Parkinson ( 30 July 1909 – 9 March 1993 ) was a British naval historian and author of some sixty books, the most famous of which was his bestseller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar within the field of public administration.

Colin Kapp ( 1928 – 3 August 2007 ) was a British science fiction author.

Martin Hewitt, created by British author Arthur Morrison in 1894, is perhaps the first example of the modern style of fictional private detective.

* 1892 – Osbert Sitwell, British author ( d. 1969 )

* 1867 – At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

* 2003 – Alan Davidson, British author ( b. 1924 )

* 1909 – James Riddell, British champion skier and author ( d. 2000 )

During the same year, British author George MacDonald Fraser published Flash for Freedom !, the third novel in the Flashman series that was set partially in Dahomey.

* 1914 – Alan Bullock, British author of the first biography of Hitler written in any language.

After its first release, this book sold far better than any of Butler's other works — perhaps because the British public assumed that the anonymous author was some better-known figure ( the favorite being Lord Lytton, who had published The Coming Race two years previously ).

* 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, British soldier, author, and Scout movement founder ( d. 1941 )

* 1912 – George Mikes, Hungarian-born British author ( d. 1987 )

Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century.

* 1929 – Len Deighton, British author

Near its entrance, opposite the new British Library, a contemporary statue of Saint Joan commemorates Shaw as author of that play.

Trent's Last Case is an adaptation of British author E. C. Bentley's 1913 novel of the same name, and had already been adapted to film in England in 1920.

* Thomas Robson, author of The British Herald ( 1830 ).

Other luminaries include Keith Johnstone, the British teacher and writer – author of Impro, who founded the Theatre Machine and whose teachings form the foundation of the popular shortform Theatresports format, Dick Chudnow, founder of ComedySportz which evolved its family-friendly show format from Johnstone's Theatersports, Stan Wells, creator of the " Clap-In " longform style and founder of The Empty Stage Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles, and Bill Johnson, creator / director of The Magic Meathands, who pioneered the concept of " Commun-edy Outreach " by tailoring performances to non-traditional audiences, such as the homeless and foster children.

* 1944 – Jenny Nimmo, British author

* 1836 – John Cheyne ( physician ), British physician, surgeon and author ( b. 1777 )

Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS ( ; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954 ), was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist.

* British mathematician Alan Turing created a theoretical model for a machine, now called a universal Turing machine, that could carry out calculations from inputs,

In the 1970s and 80s, The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock group which specialized entirely in concept albums.

Notable US radio disc jockeys of the period include Alan Freed, Wolfman Jack, Kasey Kasem, and their British counterparts such as the BBC's Brian Matthew, Radio London's John Peel, and later in the 60s, Radio Caroline's Tony Blackburn.

* 1948 – Alan Parsons, British music producer and artist

* Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, Field Marshal, British Army

Other contemporary British film directors include Paul W. S. Anderson, Andrea Arnold, Richard Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Danny Boyle, Terence Davies, Mike Figgis, Terry Gilliam, Tom Hooper, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Sam Mendes, Alan Parker, Sally Potter, Lynne Ramsay, Guy Ritchie, Michael Winterbottom, Edgar Wright, Joe Wright and Matthew Vaughn.

Well-known currently active British actors and actresses include: Gemma Arterton, Rowan Atkinson, Christian Bale, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kate Beckinsale, Paul Bettany, Orlando Bloom, Emily Blunt, Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh, Jim Broadbent, Daniel Craig, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Keira Knightley, Hugh Laurie, Jude Law, James McAvoy, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, Thandie Newton, Bill Nighy, Gary Oldman, Clive Owen, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Alan Rickman, Tim Roth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jason Statham, Patrick Stewart, Alex Pettyfer, Gerard Butler, Emma Thompson, Emma Watson, Rachel Weisz, Kate Winslet, Tom Hiddleston, Ray Winstone and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

* 1944 – Alan Parker, British film director and writer

* 1940 – Alan Caddy, British musician ( The Tornados ), arranger and record producer ( d. 2000 )

In early August, Winston Churchill and General Alan Brooke — the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff — visited Cairo on their way to meet Joseph Stalin in Moscow.

However, following a visit in early August to Egypt by British prime minister Winston Churchill and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Alan Brooke, Alexander flew to Cairo on 8 August to replace Claude Auchinleck as the Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command, the post responsible for the overall conduct of the campaign in the desert of North Africa.

The fundamental properties of currents mediated by ion channels were analyzed by the British biophysicists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley as part of their Nobel Prize-winning research on the action potential, published in 1952.

The resulting promotion meant that Blackburn were back in the top flight of English football for the first time since 1966. In the 1992 close season, Dalglish signed Southampton's Alan Shearer for a British record fee of £ 3. 5 million.

* 1966 – Alan Davies, British comedian and actor

* 1951 – Dougie Thomson, British bassist ( Supertramp and The Alan Bown Set )

In 1981, Smith and Griff Rhys Jones founded TalkBack Productions, a company that has produced many of the most significant British comedy shows of the past two decades, including Smack the Pony, Da Ali G Show, I'm Alan Partridge and Big Train.

* 1957 – Alan Duncan, British politician

* 1904 – Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, British politician ( d. 1983 )

* 1953 – Alan Moore, British comic book writer and novelist

* 27-Sir Alan Bates, 69, British actor, pancreatic cancer.

* Thomas Alan Stephenson ( 1898 – 1961 ), British zoologist