# The 100 Greatest Britons

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [August 21, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931 "2002-08-21T15:26:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931/41 "2002-08-25T14:10:02Z")

</div>

oscar Wilde was Irish.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931/42 "2002-08-25T17:19:38Z")

</div>

You still on the beer Twisty? You’ve made that point already, and nobody suggested otherwise\* 😉

[sub]\*(except APB, but that post was too ridiculous to count.)[/sub]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931/43 "2002-08-25T18:17:19Z")

</div>

Yeah, go back to sleep yer drunk !

What about George Best…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931/44 "2002-08-26T00:44:04Z")

</div>

If I’m reading the reports in our papers right, those who responded to the poll couldn’t just pick anyone - they were polling from a list already compiled (which might explain some of the notable absences).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931/45 "2002-08-26T05:56:08Z")

</div>

Jeez, I can think of a dozen real live Britons who deserve to be on the list.  
Any Christopher Wren? Where’s Gladstone? Disraeli? Chatham/Penn? Alfred Lord Tennyson? How about a Rosetti, any Rosetti? Or a Browning, for chrissakes?

Incidentally, Peter O’Toole always used to say that when he won the oscar, the _Times_ ran a story headlined “english actor wins Oscar,” but when he was arretsed two days later, after celebrating, the headline read “Irish actor arrestsed drunk and disorderly.” Unfortunately, Richard Harris tells the same story about himself…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931/46 "2002-08-26T20:14:55Z")

</div>

That’s pretty funny since neither O’Toole nor Harris has ever won the Oscar…

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-100-greatest-britons/124931.md?page=2)