| Anna Magdalena |
Bach | Singer, wife of Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Johann Sebastian |
Bach | German composer and musician |
| Béla |
Bartók | Hungarian composer and pianist |
| Ludwig van |
Beethoven | German composer and pianist |
| Chuck |
Berry | American guitarist and singer-songwriter |
| Napoleon |
Bonaparte | French general and emperor |
| James |
Bond | Fictional British Secret Service agent |
| Johannes |
Brahms | German composer |
| Frank |
Bridge | English composer and violist |
| Benjamin |
Britten | 20th-century English composer |
| Gaius Julius |
Caesar | Roman general and statesman |
| Sir Robert |
Carey | 1st Earl of Monmouth, English nobleman |
| Simon |
Carter | Edward's school friend |
| Lord |
Chamberlain | Senior officer of the Royal Household |
| Geoffrey |
Chaucer | English poet and writer |
| Shura |
Cherkassky | Russian-American concert pianist |
| Norman |
Cohn | British academic and historian |
| Anthony |
Crosland | Author and former Economic Secretary to the UK Treasury |
| Elizabeth |
David | British writer and chef |
| Jacqueline |
du Pré | British cellist |
| Hugh |
Gaitskell | Former Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| Tony |
Hancock | English comedian and actor |
| Franz Joseph |
Haydn | Classical-period composer |
| Adolf |
Hitler | German dictator |
| Elizabeth |
I | Queen of England and Ireland |
| Frederick |
II | King of Sicily |
| John F. |
Kennedy | 35th President of the United States |
| Nikita |
Khrushchev | Former Prime Minister of the Soviet Union |
| Brian |
Knight | Professor of economics at Brown University |
| Alexis |
Korner | British musician and radio broadcaster |
| Sébastien |
Loeb | French rally and racing driver |
| Harold |
Macmillan | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
| Harold |
Mather | Third-year history student |
| John |
Mayall | Musician and songwriter |
| Edward |
Mayhew | A young, naive 1960s history graduate from a rural, working-class background |
| Lionel |
Mayhew | Edward's father |
| Marjorie |
Mayhew | Lionel's wife |
| Wolfgang Amadeus |
Mozart | Classical-period composer |
| Iris |
Murdoch | Irish-British novelist and philosopher |
| Vladimir |
Nabokov | Russian-American novelist and poet |
| John |
Ogdon | English pianist and composer |
| Peter |
Pears | English tenor |
| Florence |
Ponting | A talented, reserved young violinist from an upper-middle-class background |
| Geoffrey |
Ponting | Florence's father |
| Violet |
Ponting | Florence's mother |
| Amadeus |
Quartet | Musical quartet |
| Al | Read |
British radio comedian and actor |
| Charles |
Rodway | Cellist |
| Konrad |
Schmid | Theologian |
| Robert |
Schumann | German composer and pianist |
| Joseph |
Stalin | Revolutionary and former Prime Minister of the Soviet Union |
| James |
VI | King of England |
| Angus |
Wilson | English novelist |
| Joshua David |
Wolson | United States District Judge |
| Anne |
| Edward's sister |
| Catherine |
the Great | Empress of Russia |
| Charlemagne |
| Holy Roman Emperor |
| Charles |
| Chubby and assertive cellist |
| Epictetus |
| Greek Stoic philosopher |
| Greta |
| Florence's friend |
| Harriet |
| Edward's sister |
| Hermione |
| Florence's friend |
| Lucy |
| Florence's friend |
| Nelson |
| American rock duo formed by Matthew and Gunnar Nelson |
| Ruth |
| Ponting's sister |
| Simon |
| Edward's friend |
| Sonia |
| Viola player |
| Strabo |
| Ancient Greek geographer and historian |
