Samuel Johnson (Dr. Johnson)

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), who endured Tourette syndrome, scrofula that blinded him in one eye, and grinding poverty at Pembroke College, Oxford, conquered London through sheer moral and intellectual willpower. Over nine arduous years working in his Gough Square attic, with six assistants, Johnson single-handedly compiled A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).

Containing 42,773 words illustrated by 114,000 literary quotations, Johnson's Dictionary stood for over a century as the undisputed authority on the English tongue. As founder of 'The Club' alongside Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, and David Garrick, Johnson's legendary wit, profound moral essays in The Rambler, and critical magnum opus Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets shaped the 18th century so deeply that it is universally known as 'The Age of Johnson'.