Born Riley B. King in Mississippi, he became the most celebrated blues guitarist of the 20th century, influencing virtually every rock and blues musician who followed. His guitar, affectionately named Lucille, became as iconic as the man himself. He performed over 300 concerts a year well into old age, driven by a lifelong need to share the music that saved him.

The warrior-king who led England to an astonishing victory at Agincourt in 1415 against a French army many times his size, becoming heir to the French throne by the Treaty of Troyes. Shakespeare immortalized him as a heroic everyman-king. He died of dysentery at 35, at the height of his power.

The founding father of modern Singapore, who transformed a small island city-state with no natural resources into one of the wealthiest nations on earth through authoritarian efficiency, free trade, and radical investment in education. He served as Prime Minister for 31 years and remained the dominant force in Singapore's politics until his death in 2015.

Discovered at 19 by director Howard Hawks, she became one of Hollywood's most iconic leading ladies with her husky voice and cool magnetism. Her on-screen chemistry with Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not (1944) was electric — and led to a real-life marriage that lasted until Bogart's death in 1957.

The London-based scion of the Rothschild banking dynasty who became the most powerful financier in Britain during the Napoleonic era, funding Wellington's campaigns and profiting brilliantly from news of Waterloo before it reached the public. He helped make the Rothschilds the most influential banking family in 19th-century Europe.