# The most popular person ... EVER! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2002, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655 "2002-05-01T08:16:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/41 "2002-05-12T00:53:18Z")
Hmmm… I wouldn’t have speculated when this was in GQ, but now that it’s here, I seem to recall reading once (in some unreliable source) that in terms of statuary, the Virgin Mary is the most popular woman, and the Buddha is the most popular man. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/42 "2002-05-12T03:38:30Z")
#1 Q rating: Fred Flintstone. And here’s a nifty emoticon I found for Hitler while searching Q ratings: :-=) Uke, I’ll dispute your Chaplin assertion. King Gillette had his picture on several billion razorblade cases all over the civilized world LONG before moving pictures were popular worldwide. He’s the #1 international celebrity of the early days of the 20th Century. [http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsA-H/gillette.html](http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsA-H/gillette.html) BONUS!: Don’t miss out on his crackpot ideas: [http://future.newsday.com/6/fbak0625.htm](http://future.newsday.com/6/fbak0625.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Dagny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9f8e36/32.png) [@Dagny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dagny)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/43 "2002-05-12T05:43:24Z")
I remember a quiz conducted in a history class I took in high school. The teacher showed a slide show of famous people and asked us to write down who they were. Some of the people shown (that I remember): Hitler Gengis Khan Queen Elizabeth Gillette (I never realized what a nut he was before this thread) Elvis Muhammad Ali Charlie Chaplin Clara Bow Valentino Micheal Jackson MLK Oprah Letterman The only person that everybody in the class got correct was Hitler. From that point on I just figured Hitler was the most well known person on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Dieter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dieter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dieter)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/44 "2002-05-12T06:44:49Z")
I think Ronald McDonald and Hitler are the tow most famous. And oddly, they are both evil. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/45 "2002-05-12T19:38:59Z")
I am fairly sure a “top three” person in the period, say 1966-1976, would have been Mao. His little Red Book was, for a time, after the Bible the most widely printed book on earth. Besides China’s 7-8-9 100 mil. He was also beloved by non-Soviet leftys of the period to. My understanding is that he is still taught as a GREAT MAN to Chinese school kids and that Cantonese cab drivers carry little pictures of him for luck (like a Catholic Saint). There are “Mao-ist” rebels in Nepal and Peru in 2001. N.B.: I’m NOT saying he was a GOOD man, just that at a certain specific period of time he was known by probably +75% of the World’s Population and probably something around 50% of the World’s Population had a “somewhat or very favorable” opinion of him. Also, in the Mao Suit, he invented a "look " that became MANDETORY for 1 billion – lets see Britney top THAT. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/46 "2002-05-13T00:49:24Z")
So, I guess no one remembers **Princess Diana**?? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/47 "2002-05-13T10:37:10Z")
If anybody’s mentioned Frank Sinatra so far, I must have missed it. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655/48 "2002-05-13T10:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > So, I guess no one remembers Princess Diana?? I hate to say it, but she really only found popularity in death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-popular-person-ever/106655.md?page=2)