# Who is the Greatest Briton? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2002, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210 "2002-10-21T11:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/21 "2002-10-22T03:55:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*[Sir Francis Drake!!!](http://www.mcn.org/2/oseeler/drake.htm) Supposedly, his name still inspires dark mutterings among the Spanish. Name another Brit, whom some 400+ years after his death still inspires such. He’s credited with smashing the Spanish Armada and giving control of the high seas to England, without which her Empire might never have came to be. Legend has it that his drum began to beat during WW II, callin Drake from his watery grave to do battle with the Nazi’s. \*\* Unfortunate victim of circumstance and the time when he lived. Now if he’d smashed the French similarly, he’d be right up there - see Nelson. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/22 "2002-10-22T04:33:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > **Well, my first thought was “Isaac Newton”… and I see no reason to change. No disrespect intended to Churchill, Darwin, Shakespeare or Brunel . . . Don’t much care how much disrespect I show John Lennon, worthwhile human being in many ways, but doesn’t belong on that list.** I’d vote Newton or Shakespeare. Churchill and Elizabeth I don’t belong high on the list, as Shakespeare would put it, because “They had greatness thrust upon them.” Somebody was probably going to win WWII for England. _Somebody else_ might have done it without completing the destruction of the empire in the process. Whether one rates Lennon highly depends in part on how highly one rates music, overall. If there was only one British musician in history, I’d choose Lennon second. (Well, Handel, if he’s to be considered British.) After Sullivan. The thing about Lennon is that he had social importance, as well as musical. For Sullivan, he had to team up with Gilbert to approach that level of influence. ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/23 "2002-10-22T07:06:19Z")
Even more so than Newton, Locke, Lennon, Churchill, or Shakespeare… Andy Partridge is the greatest ever. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/24 "2002-10-22T07:21:34Z")
Newton. What the hell is Diana even doing _near_ this list? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/25 "2002-10-22T07:30:01Z")
Basil Faulty What? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/26 "2002-10-22T08:05:05Z")
The person I would most like to have met (which, for the purposes of this thread, will be my definition of the greatest Briton) would be Alan Turing, who ranked 21st in the BBC poll. Many of the others are…well…_great_, but Turing was different somehow - although his contribution to computer science is far from insignificant, I get the impression that we’d be living in quite a different world if he’d had the chance to live out his natural span. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/27 "2002-10-22T09:22:19Z")
From the Great Britons website: > [@](#): > > 30,000 people nominated their Greatest Britons last year, resulting in the Top Ten featured in the series. Presumably this means that the top ten were ranked in the original poll, as were numbers 11-100. Anyone know which order they came in? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/28 "2002-10-22T09:41:44Z")
Anne Robinson didn’t say in the show. The names were read out in alphabetical order. Obviously they have a top 10 from the original phone vote of 30,000 now they will have another top 10(probably the same) with 30,000+ new phone calls @25p each. They’ve got to pay for Kilroy some way you know. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/29 "2002-10-22T09:55:33Z")
Even though they were read out in alphabetic order, the top 10 ‘slots’ in their graphic were not filled in sequentially; I was still musing over Turing at this point and so I wasn’t paying enough attention to work out who might have been top (if the place in the graphic meant anything). The profits from the phone calls are going to fund some sort of memorial to the individual that wins the vote, apparently (knowledge of this may influence the voting, I believe) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/30 "2002-10-22T10:10:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > The profits from the phone calls are going to fund some sort of memorial to the individual that wins the vote, apparently (knowledge of this may influence the voting, I believe) Ahh that’s fair enough. Does this mean there will be no more Kilroy 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ralphthemuppet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@ralphthemuppet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralphthemuppet)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/31 "2002-10-22T10:13:52Z")
And replace it with _Going for Gold_? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/32 "2002-10-22T10:24:25Z")
I’d just like to say that I’m glad two of my ancestors made the top 100. ::plonk:: ::plonk:: (Names being dropped). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/33 "2002-10-22T10:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*Ahh that’s fair enough. Does this mean there will be no more Kilroy 😉 \*\* We can hope. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/34 "2002-10-22T10:46:34Z")
I’m really sorry about the hijack and I’ll stop after this but the _Going for Gold_ ref is just too tempting. [Henry Kelly] What am I?[/Henry Kelly] [99% of all humanity] You’re a wanker Henry[/ 99% of all humanity] ---
**Author:** ![ralphthemuppet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@ralphthemuppet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralphthemuppet)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/35 "2002-10-22T10:56:09Z")
Gotcha 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/36 "2002-10-22T11:07:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*But it gets worse. According to [another poll](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2345355.stm) one in 10 Britons cannot name a single world leader but can list up to five characters in television soap opera EastEnders, and more lunacy along those lines. \*\* I’d love to know how many people nominated fictional characters for the greatness award. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/37 "2002-10-22T11:25:34Z")
Well, as **Go alien** pointed out in the other thread King Arthur made it into the quoted 100, so my guess is plenty. Never mind, if there was a poll for the greatest American I’ve met people who would nominate Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/38 "2002-10-22T11:33:54Z")
Jeremy Clarkson does a hour on Isambard Kingdom Brunel tonight on BBC2 21:00. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/39 "2002-10-22T11:54:55Z")
Yes, I’ll be watching that (in spite of Clarkson). My previous post wasn’t meant to imply that Jesus was a fictional character, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210/40 "2002-10-22T12:00:52Z")
Gotcha; Jesus was English anyway, wasn’t he? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-briton/133210.md?page=3)