| Scipio | Africanus | A Roman general. |
| Spiro | Agnew | Former Vice President of the United States. |
| Ann | Arbor | Rex's acquaintance. |
| Clement | Attlee | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. |
| Caesar | Augustus | Former Roman emperor. |
| Jane | Austen | An English novelist. |
| Joseph | Banks | An English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. |
| Mr. | Beardsley | Ted's acquaintance. |
| Cecil | Beaton | British fashion photographer. |
| Caroline | Bell | Grace's sister. aka: Caro. |
| Grace Marian | Bell | Christian Thrale's fiancé. |
| Josephine | Bonafarte | The Empress of the French. |
| Napoleon | Bonafarte | A French statesman and military leader. |
| Trish | Bootle | Dora's friend. |
| Mr. | Bostock | One of Valda's acquaintances. |
| Joan | Brinsmead | Founder of Heath Robinson Museum. |
| Rupert | Brooke | An English poet. |
| Robert | Browning | An English poet and playwright. |
| Renshaw | Browns | One of the office girls' acquaintances. |
| McGeorge | Bundy | An American academic served as U.S. Nat'l security adviser. |
| Guy | Burgess | A British diplomat and Soviet agent. |
| George | Byron | An English peer, who was a poet and politician. Aka: Lord Byron. |
| Alexander | Cambridge | 1st Earl of Athlone. Former Gov.-Gen. of the Union of South Africa. |
| Nicholas | Cartledge | A captain. Tertia's acquaintance. |
| Winston | Churchill | Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. |
| Dot | Cleaver | Dora's friend. |
| James | Cook | A British explorer, navigator and captain of the British Royal Navy. |
| Angus | Dance | Rupert's doctor. |
| Mr. | Dandridge | Mr. Haynes' colleague. |
| George | de Cuevas | A Chilean-born ballet impresario and choreographer. |
| Venus | de Milo | An Ancient Greek atatue. |
| Madame | De Sevigne | A French aristocrat. |
| Nicolas | de Stael | A French-Russian painter. |
| Frederick | Delius | An English composer. |
| Mrs. | Doods | A charwoman. |
| Tertia | Drage | Paul Ivory's fiance. |
| Dwight D. | Eisenhower | 34th U.S. President. |
| Armand | Elphinstone | Christian Thrale's colleague. |
| Mr. | Farquhar | One of Valda's acquaintances. |
| Valda | Fenchurch | One of Caro's officemates. |
| Cesar | Franck | A composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. |
| Miss | Garside | The librarian. |
| Captain | Girling | Ted's acquaintance. |
| Aubrey Drake | Graham | A Canadian rapper. |
| Edmund | Halley | A British astronomer. |
| Mr. | Haynes | An older man in Planning. |
| Werner | Heisenberg | A German theoretical physicist. |
| Adolf | Hitler | A German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party, |
| Miss | Holster | Caro's acquaintance. |
| Mr. | Hoskins | One of Valda's acquaintances. |
| Sister | Hubbard | Rupert's acquaintance. |
| Bruce | Ingot | Dora's husband. |
| Paul | Ivory | Mrs. Thrale's godson. A playwright. |
| Rex | Ivory | A true poet. Paul's father. |
| Lyndon B. | Johnson | 36th U.S. President. |
| Margaret | Jones | Married to Antony Armstrong-Jones. Countess of Snowdon. |
| Estes | Kefauver | Former U.S. senator. |
| John F. | Kennedy | 35th U.S. President. |
| Aga | Khan I | The governor of Kirman. |
| Dan | Lacey | Ted's mother's acquaintance. |
| Guillaume | Le Gentil | A French astronomer. |
| Clive | Leadbetter | An administrative officer. |
| Frederic | Leighton | A British painter. Aka: Lord Leigh. |
| Godfrey | Locker | Victor's father. |
| Victor | Locker | Paul's acquaintance. |
| Beth | Lomax | A well-off widow from the Victoria League. |
| Alfred Comyn | Lyall | A British civil servant, literary historian and poet. |
| Lord | Lytton | Served as Viceroy of India. |
| Douglas | MacArthur | An American five-star general. |
| Donald | Maclean | A British diplomat and member of the Cambridge Five spy. |
| Mr. | Marchmain | Dora's acquaintance. |
| John Edward | Masefield | An English poet and writer. |
| Miss | McLood | An organist. |
| Robert | McNamara | Former U.S. Secretary of Defense. |
| Miss | Mellish | Christian Thrale's acquaintance. |
| Mr. | Miles | One of Valda's acquaintances. |
| Manfred | Mills | Paul's acquaintance. |
| Gwen | Morphew | Glad's friend. |
| Lewis | Morris | U.S. Congressperson. |
| Tony | Mott | Ted's uncle. |
| Mrs. | Mullion | Ted's acquaintance. |
| Iris | Murdock | A British-Irish novelist. |
| Benito | Mussolini | Former Prime Minister of Italy. |
| Cam | Newton | American football quarterback. |
| Richard | Nixon | 37th U.S. President. |
| Gerard | Philipe | A French actor. |
| Pablo | Picasso | Spanish painter. |
| Glad | Pomfret | Dora's friend. |
| Sid | Pomfret | Glad's husband. |
| Ernesto | Prata | A lawyer. |
| Marcel | Proust | A French novelist. |
| Miss | Ratchitt | The doyenne. |
| Juliette | Recamier | A French socialite. |
| Peter Paul | Rubens | A Flemish artist. |
| Dean | Rusk | Former U.S. Secretary of State. |
| Manoel | Salgado | A lawyer. |
| John Singer | Sargent | An American expatriate artist. |
| Robert | Schumann | A German composer. |
| Jacob Gould | Schurman | American-Canadian diplomat. |
| William | Shakespeare | An English playwright. |
| Meg | Shentall | Dora's new friend. |
| James | Short | A Scottish mathematician and manufacturer of optical instruments. |
| Mr. | Smedleys | One of the office girls' acquaintances. |
| Aleksandr | Solzhenitsyn | A Russian novelist, philosopher, historian. |
| Charmian | Thrale | Sefton Thrale's wife. |
| Christian | Thrale | Professor Thrale's son. |
| Sefton | Thrale | An eminent scientist. |
| Edmund | Tice | Sefton Thrale's acquaintance. |
| Ted | Tice | An astronomer. |
| Ramon | Tregear | A poet. |
| Mr. | Truscotts | Ted's acquaintance. Aka: Sir Eric. |
| Richard | Turpin | An English highwayman. Aka: Dick. |
| Adam | Vail | American philanthropist. |
| Vincent | van Gogh | A Dutch painter. |
| Johannes | Vermeer | A Dutch painter. |
| Jean | Vilar | A French actor. |
| | Wadding | A professor. |
| Cordelia | Wade | The secretary. |
| Oliver | Wade | A musical artist. |
| Mrs. Humphry | Ward | A British novelist. |
| George | Washington | 1st U.S. President. |
| Orson | Welles | American actor, director, writer and producer. |
| Mr. | Whatsit | Paul's acquaintance. |
| Mr. | Whittle | An air-raid warden. |
| Humbert | Wolfe | An Italian-born British poet. |
| William | Wordsworth | An English Roman poet. |
| Alexandra | | Queen of the United Kingdom. |
| Archimedes | | A Greek mathematician. |
| Aristophanes | | A comic playwright. |
| Breton | | Ted's friend. |
| Burt | | Josie's friend. |
| Cec | | Lorna's mother. |
| Charles | | Prince of Wales. |
| Charlotte | | Adam's first wife. |
| Confucius | | A Chinese philosopher. |
| Conrad | | Bruce's acquaintance. |
| Dante | | One of Ted Tice's students. |
| Donald | | One of Margaret's father's students. |
| Dora | | Grace and Caro's half-sister. |
| Elise | | Paul's sister-in-law. |
| Elissa | | A boat. |
| Ernie | | Grace's acquaintance. |
| Ernst | | One of Dora's neighbors. |
| Fate | | Major Ingot's friend. |
| Felix | | Paul's son. |
| Gavin | | Rex's elder son. |
| Grasper | | A dog. |
| Gregory VII | | Born Hildebrand of Savana, was pope from 1073 to 1085. |
| Hansi | | Una's lover. |
| Henry IV | | King of England from 1399 to 1413. |
| Hesiod | | A Greek poet. |
| Hotspurr | | A cat. |
| Howard | | A decorator. |
| Hugh | | Grace's second son. |
| Jean | | A pediatrician. |
| Jeremy | | Christian Thrale's elder son. |
| Josie | | Adam Vail's daughter. |
| Leonardo | | One of Ted Tice's students. |
| Lorna | | Ted's mother's cousin. |
| Madeline | | Manfred's wife. |
| Madonna | | American singer-songwriter. |
| Mandy | | An actor. |
| Margaret | | Ted Tice's wife. |
| Marian | | Caro's mother. |
| Mario | | A hairdresser. |
| Mars | | Ted's son. |
| Milly | | One of Caro's officemates. |
| Miranda | | One of Caro's officemates. |
| Moggie | | A tiger. |
| Monica | | Paul Ivory's mother. |
| Myra | | Josie's school friend. |
| Pam | | One of Caro's officemates. |
| Phobos | | A dog. |
| Pindar | | An Ancient Greek lyric poet. |
| Prince Arthur | | Duke of Connaught. Former Governor General of Canada. |
| Prince Edward | | Duke of Kent. |
| Rastas | | Major Ingot's labrador. |
| Rudolf | | One of Dora's neighbors. |
| Ruffus | | A cat. |
| Rupert | | Grace Thrale's third son. |
| Sardanapalus | | The last king of Assyria, according to the Greek writer Ctesias. |
| Scheherazade | | The storyteller in the frame narrative of Middle collection of tales. |
| Segonzac | | A middle-class painter. |
| Stevenson | | Adam Vail's acquaintance. |
| Tom | | A cat. |
| Una | | Adam's sister. |
| Valentine | | Paul's adopted child. |
| Vendler | | A scientist. |
| Vicente | | Caro's acquaintance. |
| Willie | | One of Margaret's father's students. |
