My wife (Brynda) and I were talking the other day about famous people and we got to thinking about who the most famous people are from the countries we are from. I am from the UK and Brynda is from the US.
I suggested that Shakespeare may be the most famous person from England and Elvis may be the most famous person from the US. Those two were just off the top of my head.
We talked about it some more and decided that the definition of famous that we meant was someone who 1000 random people were most likely to have heard of. That might cut out some celebrities and sports stars etc.
So, what do you all think? Who is the most famous person from the US, England or your country?
CBC tv is actaully having a Greatest Canadian contest right now here in Canada, so I guess when that’s over we’ll know. But, I guess fame doesn’t mean greatest. Most famous Canadian??? bryan Adams, Michael J. Fox, Pamela Anderson…Peter Jennings. having a brain-fart at the moment to think of someone internationally historic.
Pamela Anderson and Celine Dion would probably be the ones with the highest international “Q” rating from Canada, although there’s this guy, who is one of the most popular entertainers in China, from what I understand.
I’m living in Ireland. Irish political figures don’t really figure too highly on the international stage, but for monstrously famous, I’d say Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Liam Neeson, and Bono for a start.
However, I’m actually from England. I’ll allow Shakespeare as numero uno. Churchill too, perhaps. Benny Hill? And of course we mustn’t forget Jesus.
I’m from Finland, and I don’t know who the most famous Finn would be. Jean Sibelius?
For the most famous American, I’d say Elvis Presley, too, but probably not Shakespeare for the most famous Brit - or hell, maybe he is. I’m a bit hard-pressed to say who the most famous Brit would be, actually, but Lady Di would probably be a strong choice.
For the most famous Irish person, Bono. For the most famous Canadian, Pamela Anderson (unless you measure on how many people actually know that she’s Canadian.) For New Zealand, Peter Jackson (again…)
In terms of the highest profile/recognizability around the world, the most famous American has to be George W. Bush (at the moment). After that, yeah, Elvis.
I’m not Indian, but the Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa both spring to mind for that country.
For Australia, nobody seems to stand out. Elle MacPhearson, Kylie or Sir Donald Bradman (in the Commonwealth at least) perhaps. Ian Thorpe would also be a contender, since he’s a known entity in China and the US, two highly populated countries.
If the poll took place online, it’s be Linus Torvalds…
As for Britons not already mentioned, there’s Newton, Lennon, Darwin, Diana, …
Perhaps a way of measuring it is to pick those who’s names have entered the language as actual words: Henry Rolls & C S Royce, James Watt, Alexander Graham Bell (who scores twice, with both the colloquial “give a bell” and the various company names)…
I think the answer is obvious.
Worldwide Karl Marx would be a very strong second, although some people abroad seem the think he was Russian.
Unfortunately very often you have to define what you mean by “German,” but I think we can safely include those two.
We had such a contest as well and the result was a rather embarassing vote for Konrad Adenauer, first Chancellor of the Federal Republic (1949-1963.)
