Civilisations are often remembered not for their politics or their leaders, but for the figures they worshipped. Ancient Greece is as known for Achilles and Odysseus as for its achievements in democracy and philosophy. Medieval England is remembered less for the Plantagenets than for the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood. The wild west has Davy Crockett, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Years from now, people may look back on the past 40 years not as the era of the post-cold war consensus, 9/11 or the great recession, but as the age of Tom Cruise.
