# The Worst Britons
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 27, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899 "2003-02-27T15:46:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/1 "2003-02-27T15:46:58Z")
OK we’ve had the best now let’s have a go at the worst.
Channel 4 are currently running a pole and if we Irish have anything to do with it it will be Ian Paisley.
[http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/britons/index.html](http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/britons/index.html)
OK lets get things rolling
Ian I’m a c\*\*t Paisley
Sir Oswald Mosley :- Leader of the British fascist party
Bernard Manning :- Racist repugnant comedian
and lots more but why wreck other people’s fun 😉
Have at’em boys and girls
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/2 "2003-02-27T16:07:28Z")
I’d have to say former Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain and Jack the Ripper. Oh, and Henry VIII was pretty awful as well.
Oh, wait – were we supposed to pick from the list?
😉
Barry
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/3 "2003-02-27T16:11:38Z")
Michael Crawford. 😃
The rules specify that they must be alive (which leaves out King John, for example, and also Mosley), and not currently in prison or pending trial (which leaves out Jeffrey Archer).
So let’s try:
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Tracey Emin
Pete Waterman
Peter Stringfellow
Vanessa Feltz
Simons Cowell and Fuller
Norman Foster
Nicky Haslam
Anyone having anything to do with the production of a tabloid newspaper.
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### Author:  [@cart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cart)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/4 "2003-02-27T16:53:42Z")
My worst ten:
Martin McGuinness
Max Clifford
Alex Ferguson
Robert Kilroy
Rick Parry
Tony Blair
Lord Irvine
Rupert Murdoch (if he has British citizenship)
Rebekah Wade
Johnny Vaughan
I’m sure I could think of lots more given time. If I knew the names of “fat cat” company directors they would feature more strongly in my list.
Looking at the “real list”, how could anyone object strongly to Peter Tatchell, Princess Anne, David Starkey, Mick Jagger, the Queen, Craig David or the Dimblebys?
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/5 "2003-02-27T16:55:00Z")
Ian Paisley would have to be the worst IMHO
But some more jokey possibilities would be
Paul Daniels,
Geoff Boycot,
Steve Davis,
Marge Thatcher
and of course me 🙂
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### Author:  [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/6 "2003-02-27T16:57:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Anyone having anything to do with the production of a tabloid newspaper.
Particularly those named Richard Littlejohn.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/7 "2003-02-27T17:00:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by godzillatemple \*
> **Oh, and Henry VIII was pretty awful as well.**
Yeah, but only if you compare him with modern-day political leaders. After all, the 16th century was the period of the Spanish Inquisition (nobody expected it!), “Bloody Mary,” the Munster Revolt, and more massacres than you can shake a stick at plus the stick. So, King Hank lopped off a couple of wives’ (plus a few government ministers’) heads. I’ll bet even Tony Blair would lop off a few heads given half a chance.
OK, to stop being facetious for a moment, even serious historians such as A.G. Dickens (author of _The English Reformation_) and Jack Scarisbrick (author of _Henry VIII_) characterize Henry’s reign as not particularly bloodthirsty. They consider even his father’s reign to be a bit more bloody, in that “Eight” usually threw enemies like the Duke of Norfolk in prison, while “Seven” quietly had them killed. Sure, Henry VIII had public executions, but they were done sparingly to try to make the rest of the populace fear the “wroth of the king.” Sure, Henry VIII initiated secret trials in Star Chamber, but that was just a modernization of what went on before (and I’m sure John Ashcroft is taking notes as we speak). Sure, Henry VIII broke with Rome, but, compared with the Reformation in the German states and elsewhere, it was a relatively bloodless coup (save Thomas More and a few other high-profile Catholic leaders). And, yes, Henry VIII had two of his wives executed. Horrifying now, yes, but not unlike what happened to Lord Darnley at the hands of the agents of Mary of Scots. (Also, the second executed wife, Catherine Howard, unfortunately carried the can for the political sins of her father.)
So, that’s my defense of Henry VIII. Next, Jack the Ripper…nah, I don’t think so.
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/8 "2003-02-27T17:14:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Kal \*
> Particularly those named Richard Littlejohn.
what a _&@: If only I could %@:% his "£%^&_ :mad
And drat abut the Mosley thing. How about Peter Sutcliff(sp?).
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### Author:  [@cart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cart)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/9 "2003-02-27T17:21:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by yojimbo \*
> \*\*And drat abut the Mosley thing. How about Peter Sutcliff(sp?). \*\*
He’s not allowed either because he’s in prison. But you _could_ have Max Mosley (Oswald’s grandson I think), if you feel strongly about the way Formula 1 is being run.
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/10 "2003-02-27T17:25:18Z")
:smack: I’m being really stupid today.
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### Author:  [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/11 "2003-02-27T17:28:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by yojimbo \*
> \*\*what a _&@: If only I could %@:% his "£%^&_ :mad
>
> And drat abut the Mosley thing. How about Peter Sutcliff(sp?). \*\*
Sutcliffe’s in prison, so also out of it.
Thatcher heads my list.
For the Littlejohn haters - [give 'im a slap](http://www.urban75.com/Punch/littlejohn.html)
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### Author:  [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/12 "2003-02-27T17:29:46Z")
Thatcher heads my list.
For the Littlejohn haters - [give 'im a slap](http://www.urban75.com/Punch/littlejohn.html)
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### Author:  [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/13 "2003-02-27T17:37:21Z")
Thatcher heads my list.
For the Littlejohn haters - [give 'im a slap](http://www.urban75.com/Punch/littlejohn.html)
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/14 "2003-02-27T17:49:17Z")
Richard Branson’s neither dead nor in jail, right?
And while we’re on the subject of Britain’s decaying public transport network, may I nominate Stagecoach boss and Clause 28 supporter Brian Souter? And may I say that he and Peter Tatchell deserve each other?
Paisley and Thatcher kind of go without saying. And I see from the site that Jonathan Ross has had a well-merited write-in vote. Which reminds me of another Jonathan, the repellently pretentious Jonathan Meades.
Modern British artists - Damien Hirst surely qualifies. I’m not sure what nationality Conrad Black is these days, but he deserves inclusion on the same grounds as Murdoch. Right. Round that lot up, throw Tara Palmer-Tomkinson in for good measure, and dump them at the bottom of the Irish Sea. I reckon that’s a good start.
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### Author:  [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/15 "2003-02-27T17:50:49Z")
Ian Paisley
Derry Irvine
Alex Ferguson
Richard Littlejohn
Ben Elton
Johnny Vaughan
Sir Doris’s computer (only kidding ;))
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### Author:  [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/16 "2003-02-27T17:53:07Z")
Steve - I find Jonathan Meades completely hilarious. Keep him around for my own personal entertainment. Good call on Brain Souter, though.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/17 "2003-02-27T18:02:35Z")
**Tansu** , you may keep Jonathan Meades chained up in your dungeon for your own foul purposes if you wish. His place at the bottom of the Irish Sea will therefore be made available to a deserving case, such as Richard Desmond.
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### Author:  [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/18 "2003-02-27T18:50:54Z")
Oh yeah… Thatcher, big time.
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/19 "2003-02-27T19:10:54Z")
Well since I lost one facist bastard how about David Irving :mad:
I really hate facists.
Oh and Max Clifford has got to get a mention
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-britons/157899/20 "2003-02-27T19:13:02Z")
Arrrgghh **Fascists**
I’m going home to watch Buffy and get stoned. Maybe brain will be working tomorrow.
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