Susan alerted me to an interesting interactive of Kindred Britain that lets you see how different luminaries in British history are connected. This interactive is difficult to use at first. You should really go though the tutorial that opens immediately as the visualizations and controls are not obvious. Once you do you are rewarded with a three layered visualization:
- Network
- Timeline, and
- Geography
These layers are linked so manipulating one changes things in the others. The authors have written essays on what they did.