Great Britons

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The BBC is running a big poll on the greatest Brits of all time

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/index.shtml

The fact that David Beckham and Princess Di are on their list of nominations is proof, if it were needed, of the "dumbing down" of Brit culture

Haven't made my mind up yet. My shortlist is Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare - any views?

 

[Lucidor]

Originally posted by Emperor Gupta
The BBC is running a big poll on the greatest Brits of all time

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/index.shtml

The fact that David Beckham and Princess Di are on their list of nominations is proof, if it were needed, of the "dumbing down" of Brit culture

Haven't made my mind up yet. My shortlist is Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare - any views?

Does great mean that important although a bit crooked historical figures shouldn't be in there? However, the mere thought of Di and Beckham making the list makes me giggle...

 

[Lucidor]

Re: Re: Great Britons

Originally posted by Lucidor
Does great mean that important although a bit crooked historical figures shouldn't be in there? However, the mere thought of Di and Beckham making the list makes me giggle...

This can't be the case... Margaret Thatcher made the list.

 

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Thomas Crapper

 

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Brits

Newton wins hands down. Newtonian laws have reshaped the way people view the world. They gave rise to the ideas of the SCOTSMAN adam smith, and the political philosopher John Locke. Thus, the newtonian view of the world has done more to change the modern society of the west than any other mans philosophy since perhaps aristotle.

 

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Vote from Poland - Shakespeare, no doubt. Everyone knows this writer. All over the world, not only in Europe. Newton - maybe, Darvin - he still can be wrong .

 

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I would say Winston Churchill, Lord Nelson, Thomas Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Shakespeare, Wellington.
Contemporary- The Beatles (John Lennon and Paul McCartney ), Orwell.
Sports(some players that won 66 WC) and many more.

 

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Always happens with polls of this nature: a vast number of utterly stupid people vote that whoever happens to be famous now, is the most important/best/most enduring that ever existed. They should make it a requirement that only dead people be considered. Preferably only people dead for more than a century, because it's still too soon to judge exactly how important last century's figures will turn out to have been.

All of that said: Newton, by a street. Any historian will tell you that the three most important scientists ever to have lived are Aristotle, Newton, and Einstein.
In the field of culture, Shakespeare has to come top. Hard to name a specific second place, there have been so many to choose from.
Darwin didn't actually add a huge amount to the evolution theory that already existed, and his publication is dated the same day as that of Wallace: it's only because Darwin received all the opprobrium of the pseudo-Christian community that he is remembered as the "inventor" of evolution.
Roger Bacon would have a strong claim, were it not that all his writings were completely ignored for four centuries by people who thought they knew better
Sports? Well, we invented almost every sport the world plays, so there's a good few candidates

 

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Thanks for the opinions all. My viewS:

Scientist: Newton. I think your all being a bit unfair on Darwin. Was it not the case that Darwin sat on his work for ages, because he was sacred of Christian reaction.

Engineer: Brunel

Artist: Shakespeare

Philosopher: My favourite is Hume, but the most influential was probably Thomas Paine

Economist: Between Keynes and Smith

Politician: Atlee (Chruchill may have have been helped win the war and the rest of his political career was a disaster)

 

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It has to be Newton. As great as Shakespeare is he didn't change the world at all. As for other scientists, no other Briton can touch N.

 

[Drakken]

And no one nominated Alan Turing yet.

Drakken

 

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Originally posted by Drakken
And no one nominated Alan Turing yet.

Drakken

Well excuse my ignorance , but who was Alan Turing?

 

[Lucidor]

Originally posted by Falcão


Well excuse my ignorance , but who was Alan Turing?

Mathematican, credited for soing some of the theory work behind the computer.

 

[Drakken]

And conceptor of the Colossus, which is the machine which borken and decoded the German Enigma codes both with three rotors (normal Enigma) and four rotors (Kriegsmarine Enigma).

Drakken

 

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Originally posted by Emperor Gupta
Thanks for the opinions all. My viewS:

Economist: Between Keynes and Smith
)

Smith was Scottish, he don't count!

 

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Originally posted by Falcão


Well excuse my ignorance , but who was Alan Turing?

Father of the computer: arguably the most important mathematician of the last century. He was homosexual, so he was convicted of indecency crimes and committed suicide to avoid having to go through hormonal castration.

 

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Originally posted by CoolElelphant


Smith was Scottish, he don't count!

Scotland is part of Britain, at least for now

 

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Originally posted by Emperor Gupta


Scotland is part of Britain, at least for now

Speaking of which, what are the origins of the words Britain and Briton(s)?

 

[Forrad]

Its from the Roman Empire times isn't it?

 

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Briton

Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, and what the Romans called "Magna Brittania", but today we call it the english version, Great Brittian. Brittan by its self should be considered as only England because Scotland was not controled by the English durring England's entire history, and therfore it is unfare to the nation of Scotland, as it existed in the past, to lump it's people with those of English descent and birth because this is a survey of all of history. Besides, Smith got his method of thinking from Newton so Newton is still more important.