1926 general strike (3–13 May 1926). The 1926 general strike involved millions of workers and shook the foundations of British society, with many areas falling under control of workers and trades unionists. It was called off by the leadership of the Trades Union Council (TUC) after ten days, without any of the aims of the strike being achieved.

Adelphi (or New Adelphi). The Adelphi was an English literary journal founded by John Middleton Murry and published between 1923 and 1955. George Garrett's first published short story ‘First-Born’ appeared in the June 1934 issue alongside articles by the celebrated critic Edmund Wilson and a review by Adelphi Editor John Middleton Murry.

W.H. Auden (Wystan Hugh Auden, 1907–1973). Regarded as one of England's greatest poets and best known for ‘The Age of Anxiety’ which won him the Pulitzer Prize. Auden, similar to many of his generation, was radicalised by the Spanish Civil War, writing poems such as Spain, although he later moved away from his previous radical positions.

Louis Mbarick Fall, aka ‘Battling Siki’ (1897–1925) and briefly World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

Mary Hardie Bamber (née Little) (Linlithgow, West Lothian, 18 January 1874–4 June 1938 in Liverpool). Often known as Ma Bamber, she was a socialist, trade unionist, social worker and suffragist. Her daughter Bessie Braddock was a prominent Labour Member of Parliament (MP). Bamber was active in Liverpool and nationally for the best part of fifty years, present at key moments in Merseyside labour history, at the forefront of several prominent disputes. As a Labour councillor and a Justice of the Peace she promoted the dissemination of contraceptive advice as a mechanism to empower women.

William Bendix. Bendix was an American film, radio and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered in films for the title role in The Babe Ruth Story and Lifeboat. A native New Yorker, he was a radical and a Democrat.

George Bernanos. French author and a soldier from the First World War. Of catholic and monarchist leanings, he was nevertheless critical of bourgeois thought. Garrett read him because of his quotations, namely: ‘a poor man with nothing in his belly needs hope and illusion more than bread’.