This photographic portrait captures the essence of one hundred individuals born in the first half of the twentieth century, whose collective efforts have profoundly shaped the social, political, and cultural fabric of Britain over the decades.
Centurions is Carolyn’s first published book of portraits, and is a tribute to 100 people who significantly influenced the social, political and cultural texture of 20th Century Britain.
Designed specifically for the millennium, it’s a celebration of achievement, rather than celebrity, and features the unsung, as well as the better known, heroes of our common history, such as Chad Varah, founder of The Samaritans, Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International, and Helen Bamber, founder of The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
Subjects range from artists to activists, poets to politicians, singers to scientists, and dancers to doctors, and include Margaret Thatcher, Harold Pinter, Vera Lynn, Isaiah Berlin, John Cleese, Arthur C. Clarke, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Germaine Greer, Seamus Heaney, Bob Geldof, Linford Christie, Richard Rogers, Simon Rattle, Doris Lessing, John Le Carre and Betty Boothroyd.
Centurions was launched at the National Portrait Gallery in September 1999, and the auction, by Sir David Frost, of a special copy of the book, which had been signed by 70 of its 100 subjects, raised £4000 for Breast Cancer Care.
