How come I didn’t make the list!
Oh yeah, I’m not British.
But no RINGO! You’ve got John, Paul and George but no Ringo! You have JK Rowling but NO RINGO! Don’t they know how rare a drummer who can actually keep a beat is?
Elizabeth 1st.
FTR, I was aware that T.S. Eliot was born in the United States. But I counted him as a Briton because he embraced Britain as his home, called himself an Anglo-Catholic monarchist, and placed himself firmly in the British literary tradition.
So, while I’m American and would gladly claim him as an icon of American literature, I’m inclined to count him as a Briton.
But of course, being American, I’m generally quite ready to ignore where people were born and treat them as full citizens of whatever country they embrace. Hence, while Alexander Graham Bell was a Scotsman, he did his most important work (the invention of the telephone) here in the U.S., so most of us Yanks have no problem embracing Bell as a great American inventor… just as I embrace Swedish-born John Ericsson as a great American inventor.
Similarly, since Eliot did his almost all his best work in Britain, I tend to think he qualifies for the Top 100 list. Or SHOULD have.
BTW, I think Sparrow’s choice is hard to argue with. Elizabeth I makes you wonder why Henry VIII was so desperate for a son!
I figure Elizabeth I, Sir Isaac Newton and James Watt would be my top 3.