Some historical people I have a fondness for:

Italians:
Dante Alighieri
Leonardo Da Vinci
Galileo Galilei
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Lorenzo De Medici

Americans:
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Albert Einstein

Writers:
Charles Dickens
Clifford D. Simak
Poul Anderson
Roger Zelazny
Alfred Bester

If I were to make a list of historical figures whom I dislike, it would include most conquerors (Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Genghis Khan) since they were little more than legal murderers. Somehow I cannot dislike Charlemagne though, since he did so many other good things it is almost possible to turn a blind eye towards the killings.

Currently Listening: Tom Petty is one of my favorite musicians, and his latest album Mudcrutch, featuring 2 members of his Heartbreakers and 2 other members of his original band, is one of his strongest albums in years.

Currently Reading: Steampunk is proto-sf set during the Victorian Era, and the stories tend to read like a blending of Jules Verne and Charles Dickens. Extraordinary Engines contains eleven original such stories, most of which are very enjoyable.