Jan Skarsgård
My father was an extremely knowledgeable but also very unconventional man, which made him fantastic to grow up around. He did not accept the bourgeois rules of society; the respect he showed us kids was uncommon. It still is really. Youve got to respect kids opinions, their uniqueness.
Patti Smith
Shes a great all-rounder; a really talented writer and visual artist. Her songs are both poetic and thought-provoking and her memoir Just Kidswas a brilliant evocation of the heyday of the American music scene and a touching love letter to Robert Mapplethorpe.
Thomas Jefferson
In a world where there was no freedom, no democracy, no tolerance, Jefferson and the other founding fathers of America created the first state where every individual was protected, in theory at least. What we take for granted today is actually relatively new.
Tony Judt
He was a historian and New York University professor whose work I just love. I admired his intellectual capacity, but also his refusal to adopt convenient ideas.
Raoul Wallenberg
He was a diplomat from one of the wealthiest families in Sweden and went to Hungary towards the end of the Second World War to help the Jews. He probably saved about 20,000, by giving them Swedish passports and negotiating with Adolf Eichmann.