10, 000 names of the history-makers * 50 lists, from the Roman Govenors of Britain to the Prime Ministers of New Zealand, and from the First Lords of the Admiralty to the Nobel prizewinners * 19 maps, covering periods, movements and events from the Roman and Dark Age Britain through to World War Two * Vital statics on population, births and deaths, speed of communication, railway mileage, food prices, trade union membership * 12, 000 individual events described and precisely dated, from the death of Alexander the Great and the marriage of Henry V111 to Anne Boelyn to the writing of Darwin's Origin of the Species and the freeing of the hostages in the Lebanon * Every event classified under 9 headings: general and political; fine arts and architecture; literature and scholarship; music and drama; recreation and fashion; religion and education; science and invitation; voyages of exploration; and events elsewhere.