William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley lost a leg to tuberculosis of the bone at 17 and spent years in hospital, where he wrote "Invictus" — Latin for "unconquered." Its closing lines, "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul," have steadied prisoners, athletes, and patients for 150 years; Nelson Mandela recited it on Robben Island.

Henley was also a hugely influential editor, and his peg-legged, big-bearded swagger inspired his friend Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silver.