The Greatest Brit...

[limeygit]

Thought this might be of some interest. Interesting to see the opinion of non-Brits on this..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/

It is a TV show, and obviously slightly popularist - Diana being on the list shows that - but it nominates some very different people, and how does one rate greatness anyway?
I am fairly comfortable with the list, Diana excepted. I would probably argue against Cromwell, because he was motivated so more by a desire to impose his religious ideology, rather than any sense of freedom. Also, is replacing a King with a Dictator, who rules for life, and makes sure his son replaces him, really anything more than re-branding monarchy anyway, plus it lasted just two years without him.
Still on his side is his place in history as the father of Parlimentary democracy, which is as good a method of governing as we have found yet...

[-Ken]

Interesting read, even though I found some of the list out of order.

I'm sorry but placing Boy George (46) ahead of Sir Alexander Graham
Bell (57), Charles Babbage (80) or JRR Tolkien (92) seems way off the
mark. Maybe I should give Boy George's music another chance?

I also noticed three out of four of the Beatles were nominated, sucks
to be Ringo, doesn't it?

Thanks Limey, that was cool.

[limeygit]

I hadn't dug too far beyond the top ten yet.
It's populist nature, a TV show where the public can vote, is always going to throw up this, but I found the top ten itself pretty strong...

[-Ken]

I was pleasantly surprised to see
John Lennon accorded the same
respect as Charles Darwin.

[ethics]

Originally posted by -Ken
I was pleasantly surprised to see
John Lennon accorded the same
respect as Charles Darwin.

Yikes!

See that would kill me. :(

[-Ken]

John Lennon almost singlehandedly led a generation of us for
quite a few years. He defined the style and forever changed
pop music.

Like it or not, he shaped and changed a lot of us here today.
As a legacy he left some beautiful music.

Darwin was a brilliant man who shaped the world for more
than a century. While his contribution is massive, he never
had a top ten hit!

Now, where are your priorities?
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_1/images/music-britney-spears.jpg

[ethics]

LOL Ken. I guess that's pretty good justification but I was never a fan of the Beatles, and Yoko just ruined ANYthing Lennon. ;(

[limeygit]

Lennon has always been a hero of mine, not just because of his talents as a songwriter -- he was very unschooled as a musician and he would sit down at a piano with an idea, and play the tune of three blind mice, and stand up a few hours later with 'Imagine'. That kind of raw talent is hard not to admire.
But also because he had a trait all the people I tend to admire have, a rare sense of wit, that is displayed with true spontaneity.

[ethics]

I never actually got to know him, Limey, so perhaps you and Ken have a really good point.

When he went solo I was not in to that type of music, I was merely in to Donna Summer and the Disco that was becoming more popular. I loved to dance, and while I could boogie to Love you Love you Baby (if you know what I mean) and couldn't do anything with songs like Imagine.

That's not to say the lyrics were not mind blowing.

[Sierra Mike]

I actually met all of the Beatles. My father was in the radio business for almost 40 years, and he was partially responsible for getting them into the US marketplace.

I was six when I met them, and thought they were odd...Lennon especially so. Starr was just a kid like me, although much bigger.

So many brushes with greatness in my lifetime. :)

SM

[Coot]

While Lennon greatly influenced a western generation, I would find it hard to put that on par with the accomplishments of Cromwell, Churchill, Brunel or Newton.

[ShinyTop]

Entertainers need to be kept in their own polls. Unless they crossed over and actually put their ideas to the test or enter government I feel they have no place in any greatest list. That includes people who were merely in the limelight like Diana. I know she had a heart of gold but how many people have spent many more volunteer hours doing more than photo shoots and charity dinners but did not make the list.

[limeygit]

Here is what the final vote was from the British public, Diana with twice the votes of Shakespeare... sigh.

1 Churchill 27.9%

2 Brunel 24.1%

3 Diana 14.2%

4 Shakespeare 6.9%

4 Darwin 6.9%

6 Newton 5.2%

7 Elizabeth I 4.5%

8 Lennon 4.3%

9 Nelson 3.1%

10 Cromwell 2.9%

[ShinyTop]

Thanks for sharing that Limeygit. Shows that we are not the only country with a media educated public.

[BigDeputyDog]

I protest!!!

Where were John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin???

Nee! Nee!! I say...


BDD... :{)

[ethics]

Terry Pratchet?

[limeygit]

The Spice Girls?

[bruzzes]

What I was disappointed in perusing the top 100 list was the absence of John Locke altogether.

Of course, I should not be surprised as his ideas on Absolute Monarchy was used by our founding fathers as basis for our new government and one of the primary reasons for the Revolutionary War.

"In Two Treatises of Government he has two purposes in view: to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the Monarch, as it had been put forward by Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, and to establish a theory which would reconcile the liberty of the citizen with political order."

Above quote taken from this site:

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/l/locke.htm

But again, being media driven, I can imagine what a similar poll would depict here in America.

Wait! I don't want to imagine a similar list here...:)

[ethics]

Originally posted by bruzzes
What I was disappointed in perusing the top 100 list was the absence of John Locke altogether.


Yah, good one.