Simon Schama in the context of "Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature"

Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy Peltz says he was "the leading portrait artist of the 18th-century and arguably one of the greatest artists in the history of art." He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting, which depended on idealisation of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts and was knighted by George III in 1769. He has been referred to as the 'master who revolutionised British Art.'

Reynolds had a famously prolific studio that produced over 2,000 paintings during his lifetime. Ellis Waterhouse estimated those works the painter did ‘think worthy’ at ‘hardly less than a hundred paintings which one would like to take into consideration, either for their success, their originality, or their influence.' Of these, Portrait of Omai is probably his best known work and has been described by Simon Schama as "one of the greatest things British art has ever produced [and] one of the all time, timeless masterpieces that painting can produce." Waterhouse considered The Marlborough Family as 'the most monumental achievement of British portraiture' and that 'Reynolds' genius came to full flower in the diversity and geniality he was able to give to his full-length portraits' like Portrait of Philip Gell and Portrait of the Earl of Carlisle.

A History of Britain is a BBC documentary series written and presented by Simon Schama, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 30 September 2000.

A study of the history of the British Isles, each of the 15 episodes allows Schama to examine a particular period and tell of its events in his own style. All the programmes are of 59 minutes' duration and were broadcast over three series, ending 18 June 2002.

The Story of the Jews is a television series, in five parts, presented by British historian Simon Schama. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two in September 2013 and in the United States on PBS in March and April 2014.

It is based on Schama's book of the same title, which is being published in three volumes. The first volume, Finding the Words 1000BCE – 1492CE, was published in September 2013. The second volume, entitled Belonging: The Story of the Jews 1492–1900, was published by Bodley Head in October 2017.