Gladstone, a formidable reformer, personified an era when the British Empire was the great world power.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Thus, during the past decade, the more common route to seed and Series A investing has been an entrepreneurial career, personified by such investors as: Dave McClure, Chris Dixon, Brad Feld and Mark Suster.

FORBES: Pssst...Here's How To Become A Venture Capitalist

Bill Clinton inspired them to an almost ecstatic series of attacks, and though there remained enough of an older conservative establishment, personified by Senator Bob Dole, to check some of the wildest charges, the new Republican House majority after 1994, pushed by such ideologues as Tom DeLay and Dick Armey, had little interest in maintaining the center.

NEWYORKER: Confounding Fathers

The villain, personified by Roger Allam, turns out to represent big business: an interesting choice of target for a major motion picture.

NEWYORKER: Speed Racer