Today, the slave trade is a £150bn global business. Back in the late 18th century, it was making a lot of influential people very rich too, but some in England were determined to stop it.

Arkwright invented the factory, without which modern life would be impossible.

Edward Stone wondered if the willow tree might have more in common with the Peruvian cinchona tree than just its damp habitat.

Twenty-five-year-old Robert Clive’s extraordinary daring helped to prevent India falling into the hands of the French King.

After James Somerset was loaded onto a British slave-ship bound for Jamaica, Granville Sharp and other committed Christians turned to the courts for justice.

John Goodricke’s observations of Algol won him the Copley Medal while still in his teens, despite his disability.