* 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 )

Sir Thomas Grenville ( 1755 – 1846 ), a Trustee of The British Museum from 1830, assembled a fine library of 20, 240 volumes, which he left to the Museum in his will.

There are about a million British prints including more than 20, 000 satires and outstanding collections of works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick ..

Thomas Carlyle translated Goethe ’ s novel into English, and after its publication in 1824, many British authors wrote novels inspired by it.

Hayek conceded that the national labels did not exactly correspond to those belonging to each tradition: Hayek saw the Frenchmen Montesquieu, Constant and Tocqueville as belonging to the " British tradition " and the British Thomas Hobbes, Priestley, Richard Price and Thomas Paine as belonging to the " French tradition ".

She married British bartender turned Los Angeles bar owner Jeremy Thomas on March 20, 1994, and filed for divorce less than two months later.

The film was produced by independent British producer Jeremy Thomas.

" Anticipating the Declaration of Independence, Patriot leaders Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvania rule on June 15, 1776.

Strand produced films for the MOI ; Thomas scripted at least five films in 1942, This Is Colour ( a history of the British dyeing industry ) and New Towns For Old ( on post-war reconstruction ).

* 1775 – Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral ( d. 1860 )

Between 1780 and 1783 Allen participated, along with his brother Ira, Vermont Governor Thomas Chittenden, and others, in negotiations with Frederick Haldimand, the governor of Quebec, that were ostensibly about prisoner exchanges, but were really about establishing Vermont as a new British province and gaining military protection for its residents.

The Irish Volunteers — the smaller of the two forces resulting from the September 1914 split over support for the British war effort — set up a " headquarters staff " that included Patrick Pearse as Director of Military Organisation, Joseph Plunkett as Director of Military Operations and Thomas MacDonagh as Director of Training.

Not all of those executed were leaders: Willie Pearse described himself as " a personal attaché to my brother, Patrick Pearse "; John MacBride had not even been aware of the Rising until it began, but had fought against the British in the Boer War fifteen years before ; Thomas Kent did not come out at all — he was executed for the killing of a police officer during the raid on his house the week after the Rising.

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.

Among prominent Fifth Monarchists were Thomas Harrison, Christopher Feake, Vavasor Powell, John Carew, John Rogers and Robert Blackborne, Secretary of the Admiralty and later of the British East India Company.

During this trip Douglass became legally free, as British supporters raised funds to purchase his freedom from his American owner Thomas Auld.

In 1846 Douglass met with Thomas Clarkson, one of the last living British abolitionists, who had persuaded Parliament to abolish slavery in Great Britain and its colonies.

* 1873 – Thomas Andrews, British shipbuilder on the RMS Titanic ( d. 1912 )

In 1959, British engineer Francis Thomas Bacon successfully developed a 5 kW stationary fuel cell.

* 1711-The British government, then in the hands of the Tories, covertly ordered the British Gibraltar governor, Thomas Stanwix, to expel any foreign ( not British ) troops ( to foster Great Britain's sole right to Gibraltar in the negotiations running up between Britain and France ).

* A British brand of railway locomotives, road rollers and other products ; see Thomas Green & Son