Blind History

Long before Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, there was a billionaire playboy who set the standard - a genius with a passion for flying and designing planes, a womaniser who bedded the sexiest women in Hollywood, and a man who was eccentric enough to be declared mentally ill by today’s standards. Howard Hughes was many things... but he certainly wasn’t boring!

The fiery, furious relationship between the medieval era’s most famous power couple led to glory and terrible failure. The empire they presided over was the greatest empire in the West since the time of Charlemagne. He was 9 years younger than her, but she matched his energy. When they weren’t making love and producing one of many children, they were plotting against each other or fighting like cat and dog. She took no prisoners, but he made her one for 15 years. The world, it seems, wasn’t big enough for Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Vice Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson was the greatest British sailor of all time, possibly the greatest sailor in all the world’s history. His adventures, tactical genius and courage inspired Britain to become the naval superpower that it was in the 1700s and 1800s, and helped bring about the fall of Napoleon and a change in the balance of power throughout the world. Though he had only one eye and one arm, he seems to have brought enough energy and ambition for two lifetimes, and history looks fondly on his contribution.

In 1742 a Russian aristocrat and military engineer, fluent in Turkish and French, rose to prominence in the Imperial court of Peter the Great. He had all the trappings of nobility, and was held in such high regard that the Tsar adopted him. This great figure of Russian history's name is Gannibal - charming, intelligent and a man of extraordinary achievement. Oh, and also a black African.