Who is the Greatest Briton?

In My Humble Opinion
121

Don’t know who’s doing the Churchill programme, but I agree it makes a big difference to the way the subjects may be perceived. I watched the Brunel doc in spite of Clarkson, not because of him, yet in fairness he did a top job. Cromwell is a prickly subject anyway, but Richard Holmes is a pretty stiff bloke and any programme he presents makes him sound like an Edwardian schoolboy tipping out his box of lead soldiers. Lucy Moore is pretty good eye candy, but she seems to know her stuff too.

Elizabeth I is getting Michael Portillo, god help her.

122

Portillo??? Oh god.

had a look around and here’s the Churchill . Mo Mowlam’s doing the show. Probably won’t be great but she’s quite popular isn’t she?

123

She was very popular around the time she went to the NI office, but has been out of the public eye for a while. Maybe she’ll have a leavening influence to reduce the suspicion of Churchill being vengeful or jingoistic?

BTW, can anybody else make sense of this:
Apart from casting a one-off vote, viewers can rate the candidates according to various “greatness criteria” after each broadcast. The results bear no relation to their position in the list:



           Legacy Genius Leadership Bravery Compassion  Tot  Avg
1 Brunel     7      7        5         5         4      28   5.6
2 Diana      3      2        2         4         6      17   3.4
4 Darwin     7      7        3         5         5      27   5.4
6 Nelson     5      6        8         8         5      32   6.4
7 Cromwell   6      5        7         6         3      27   5.4

(others not “done” yet). It seems that the people who voted for Diana were either too lazy to add a rating, or voted for her as the greatest in spite of her having no claims on greatness.

124

Having a Labour politician advocating a vote for Churchill is a shrewd move. And she actually looks a bit like him.

125

Everton, that list is only for the web-page votes. So all those who voted for “anyone BUT Diana” will have given Diana a low score after voting, I would guess. Those catagories don’t appear on the phone poll.

There will still be a lot more voters against Diana in total, than for her, IMHO.

126

Yes, the “five criteria” thing is entirely separate from the main vote - you’re asked to rate whoever’s just been “done” on the box, regardless of where your actual vote went.

Private Eye gave Clarkson a thorough slagging, but his presentation seems to have resonated with people somehow… it’s quite possible Mo Mowlem could do the same for Churchill; from what I’ve seen of her, she’s a pretty good natural communicator. (Like Clarkson, really; his deliberate blokishness may be grating, but there’s no denying his ability to get passionate about an issue and make that passion come across to an audience.)

127

Mo Mowlem? :eek: Mel Smith in drag? :eek: :eek:
That’s Churchill doomed, then. His attitudes are the antithesis of New Labour, New BBC, so it looks like deliberate sabotage. At least to this old cynic, it does.

128

Anybody see the Shakespeare episode. I missed it and forgot to set the video. From what I’ve read on the BBC board it doesn’t seem to have made a very good impression.

Current standing are:
1 Brunel
2 Diana
3 Churchill
4 Darwin
5 Shakespeare
6 Nelson
7 Cromwell
8 Newton
9 Elizabeth I
10 Lennon

129

Actually, these are the current rankings. Or not, as the case may be (it is the Guardian, after all…).

130

jr8. Very droll.

I did see the Shakespeare programme and am not surprised it didn’t win many converts. I may be influenced by the showing of Diana, but I suspect that too many of the voters are too stupid to appreciate why Will should deserve their vote. They probably struggled with him at school and have never recovered. Worse still the programme emphasised his “grasp of all our humanity” etc., which must have left a few people scratching their heads.

People are either looking for celebrities or for people who achieved something tangible such as freedom from Nazis or ships ‘n’ bridges etc. That’s why Darwin and Newton have got no chance, but although I’m still gratified to see Brunel doing so well I think Churchill’s got it in the bag. Which would be a much better result than you know who.
Anyway, enough of that nonsense - who is the best Lord? …of the Rings, …of the Dance or …of the Flies?

131

Great to have Old Alan back, isn’t it? * <<<draws chalk penis on Evertons back…hehehe>>>*

Did anyone see the Clarkson report in the Times on Sunday? He berated Darwin the Naturalist for the reason more great works of engineering are not built, as environmentalists all try to stop them 'cause of a rare beetle or slug etc…
He was trying to argue its Darwins fault Brunel is not God, or something. Think he has lost it.

132

[AP]Back of the net[/AP]

133

[AP] Cashback [/AP] :wink:

Anyone reading this who didn’t see AP last night will be well confused!

134

Thats what the Nazi War criminals said.

See you in Strasbourg.

135

[AP]You have minor womens whiplash[/AP]

Oh, but that laughter track…

136

Did an PaddyDopers tape AP? I was out hobnobbing with C-list celebs last night so I missed it. And Batchelor’s Walk series 2?

137

I think I have it on tape. I may have taped over it after I looked at it I can’t remember. I was very … tired, yeah that’s it tired, last night :wink:

I’ll have a look when I get home.

138

I’d like to post a vote for:

  1. Shakespeare
  2. Darwin
  3. Churchill
  4. Cromwell

And please, for the sake of all that’s good about Britain, please don’t let Diana win! Nice enough lady, in her way, I suppose, but one of the ten greatest Britons of all time?

If she wins I’ll be looking for somewhere abroad that I can live. Anyone have an outhouse going spare?! :wink:

139

I will be in London next week (my first ever trip abroad)–will there be any showings of this program (or programme, if you prefer) during my stay?

140

Next week it’s John Lennon on Tues 19th and Churchill on Fri 22nd. Both are on BBC2 at 21:00. If you are staying in a hotel BBC2 will be on the tv.

Tonight Elizabeth I and Fri is Newton.

Just noticed when checking this out on difiguide that Celeb Big Brother starts next week. Wohoo(yeah I know I’m a sad case but feck ya all Wohoo :wink: )