Bronte, Charlotte (1816-’55): One of the three Bronte sisters, forceful novelist, author of Jane Eyre. Her sister Emily (1818-’48) wrote Wuthering Heights; an another sister Anne (1820-’49) wrote Agnes Grey.

Brooke, Rupert (1887-1915): English poet. Fought in WWI. The soldier, clouds the dead.

Brown, Dan (b.1964): American author of best selling novel The Da Vinci Code (2003) with 36 million copies in print.

Brown, John (1800-’59): Hero of the song’John Brown’s Body’. An anti-slavery crusader who tried to start a slave revolt, was caught, and hanged.

Browning, Robert (1812-’89): English poet of the Victorian Era, famous for his dramatic monologues. Wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-’61) was poet too.

Bruce, Robert (1274-1329) Scottish national leader. King in 1306; defeated Edward II of England in 1314.

Brundtland, Gro Harlem (b.1939): Norway’s first woman PM. She was PM in ’81, 86, ’90. Active environmentalist. Former director general, WHO.

Brutus, Marcus Junius (85-42. B.C.): Roman senator famed as a conspirator against Julius Caesar.

Bubka, Sergei (b.1964): World’s best pole vaulter from Ukraine. In’94, at 6.14m. World title six times.

Buck, Pearl S. (1892-1973): American author. Nobel prize (1938), Pulitzer Prize, (1932). The good earth.