Accompanying Clive James's BBC Television series, this book traces how the invention and development of mass communications - press, radio, film and television - has transformed the nature of fame, and how the famous have dealt with that fame. The key international figures of the 20th century, in politics, cinema, art, literature, theatre, music, science, crime and sport, are brought together and examined. The many personalities featured include Edison, Einstein, Ford, Picasso, Chaplin, Lenin, Valentino, Disney, Lindbergh, Garbo, Astair, Hemingway, Hitler, Roosevelt, Callas, Sinatra, Monroe, Stalin, Presley, Muhammed Ali, Howard Hughes, Neil Armstrong, Nixon, The Princess of Wales, Reagan and Madonna.