100 Greatest Britons

[peanutbutter]

(please move to Picture Box if that seems more appropriate)
So my main memory of this as a kid was utterly fucking weird it was to hear people arguing Oliver Cromwell was one of the best people who ever lived but I'm wondering was the show as big of a deal as it seemed to me at the time?

I always got the impression the Churchill worship really went up a few notches in the aftermath of it and has never really gone back down so part of me feels like the series had a pretty fucking bad impact in terms of establishing a new wave of nationalism and setting a precedent of what makes Britain great.

Similarly, are there figures who appeared shockingly high in it that wouldn't come close now? Not even out of any kind of change in the political landscape, just they've abruptly become forgotten in the same kind of way as how Elvis merch value has collapsed as his fans die off.

List (in order):

• Sir Winston Churchill
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel
• Diana, Princess of Wales
• Charles Darwin
• William Shakespeare
• Sir Isaac Newton
• Elizabeth I
• John Lennon
• Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
• Oliver Cromwell
• Sir Ernest Shackleton, explorer. Made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica.
• Captain James Cook, explorer. Made maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
• Robert Baden-Powell, soldier and activist. Founder of Scouting.
• Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871–899). Successfully stopped the Viking advance in England, encouraged education, proposing that primary education be taught in English, and improved his kingdom's legal system, military structure and people's quality of life.
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, general during the Napoleonic Wars (defeated Napoleon at Waterloo) and Prime Minister (1828–1830, 1834).
• Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister (1979–1990). First woman to have held the office.
• Michael Crawford, TV, film and theatre actor (Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em on television, and originated the title role in The Phantom of the Opera on the West End).
• Queen Victoria, queen (1837–1901). Her reign is known as the Victorian era.
• Sir Paul McCartney, musician (The Beatles).
• Sir Alexander Fleming, physician and chemist. Discovered penicillin. Received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
• Alan Turing, mathematician and pioneering computer scientist. Invented the Turing Test and devised cryptanalytical techniques, including those which cracked the Enigma machine.
• Michael Faraday, physicist. Discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.
• Owain Glyndŵr, Welsh ruler, the last native "prince of Wales"
• Elizabeth II, queen (1952–).
• Stephen Hawking, astrophysicist. Achieved groundbreaking work in the field of quantum gravity and theoretical cosmology. Author of A Brief History of Time.
• William Tyndale, scholar. Translated the Bible into English.
• Emmeline Pankhurst, activist for women's rights. Helped achieve women's right to vote in the United Kingdom.
• William Wilberforce, politician and activist. Led the anti-slavery movement.
• David Bowie, musician (Space Oddity, Ziggy Stardust, Heroes, Let's Dance)
• Guy Fawkes, member of the Catholic Gunpowder Plot. Tried but failed to blow up the English Parliament. The event is the origin of the annual Bonfire Night.
• Leonard Cheshire, military pilot and philanthropist.
• Eric Morecambe, comedian and actor (Morecambe and Wise).
• David Beckham, association football player.
• Thomas Paine, philosopher (The Age of Reason).
• Boudica, Celtic queen of Britannia. Led resistance against the Roman army.
• Sir Steve Redgrave, rower. Won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games (1984–2000).
• Sir Thomas More, author and philosopher (Utopia).
• William Blake, poet and painter (Songs of Innocence and Experience, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, Milton: A Poem in Two Books).
• John Harrison, inventor of the marine chronometer.
• Henry VIII, king (1509–1547).
• Charles Dickens, novelist (Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, David Copperfield).
• Sir Frank Whittle, engineer and inventor. Invented the turbojet engine.
• John Peel, radio presenter.
• John Logie Baird, engineer and inventor. Invented the television.
• Aneurin Bevan, politician. Minister of Health (1945–1951). Spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, providing medical care to all UK citizens regardless of wealth.
• Boy George, androgynous pop singer (Culture Club).
• Sir Douglas Bader, military aviator.
• Sir William Wallace, knight and resistance leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
• Sir Francis Drake, explorer and captain. Helped defeat the Spanish Armada under Lord Howard.
• John Wesley, religious activist. Founder of Methodism.
• King Arthur, mythical king.
• Florence Nightingale, humanitarian activist and founder of modern nursing. Nursed wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.
• T. E. Lawrence, better known as "Lawrence of Arabia", soldier and author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
• Robert Falcon Scott, explorer. Failed to reach the South Pole before Roald Amundsen and died on the way back. Became a national hero to the British because of his perseverance.
• Enoch Powell, politician, linguist, soldier, philologist and poet.
• Sir Cliff Richard, pop singer.
• Alexander Graham Bell, inventor. Invented the telephone.
• Freddie Mercury, rock singer (Queen) Born in Zanzibar of Indian Parsi descent.
• Dame Julie Andrews, film actress (Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music).
• Sir Edward Elgar, composer (Pomp and Circumstance Marches).
• Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, queen during WWII.
• George Harrison, rock guitarist (The Beatles).
• Sir David Attenborough, biologist and TV documentary presenter.
• James Connolly, activist, politician and Marxist insurgent leader.
• George Stephenson, civil engineer. "Father of the Railways". Invented the first practical steam locomotive and built the first public railway.
• Sir Charlie Chaplin, comedian, actor and film director (The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, The Great Dictator, Modern Times)
• Tony Blair, Prime Minister (1997–2007).
• William Caxton, printer. Introduced the printing press in England.
• Bobby Moore, association football player. Captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup
• Jane Austen, novelist (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility).
• William Booth, humanitarian activist. Founder of the Salvation Army.
• Henry V, king (1413–1422). Against all odds defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
• Aleister Crowley, poet, novelist and occultist. Founded religion Thelema.
• Robert the Bruce, king of the Scots (1306–1329).
• Bob Geldof, pop singer (The Boomtown Rats) and humanitarian activist (Live Aid, Live 8). Born in Dún Laoghaire and not actually British.
• The Unknown Warrior, soldier whose remains are buried at Westminster Abbey.
• Robbie Williams, pop singer (Take That).
• Edward Jenner, physician. Inventor of the smallpox vaccine.
• David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, Prime Minister (1916–1922).
• Charles Babbage, mathematician, philosopher, mechanical engineer and inventor. Invented the first programmable mechanical computer.
• Geoffrey Chaucer, poet (The Canterbury Tales).
• Richard III, king (1483–1485).
• J. K. Rowling, novelist (Harry Potter).
• James Watt, inventor. Improved the steam engine, making it economical for use in factories, which was fundamental to the Industrial Revolution which originated in Great Britain
• Sir Richard Branson, businessman (Virgin).
• Bono, rock singer (U2). Born in Dublin, Ireland, and is not British.
• John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), rock/punk singer (The Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.)
• Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein ('Monty'), WWII general.
• Donald Campbell, speed record breaker. Only person to set both world land and water speed records in the same year (1964).
• Henry II, king (1154–1189). Born in Le Mans, France. Although King of England (as well as many other titles), not actually British.
• James Clerk Maxwell, physicist. Developed the theory of electromagnetic radiation.
• J. R. R. Tolkien, novelist (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings).
• Sir Walter Raleigh, Explorer. Explored in Central America and sent expeditions to North America.
• Edward I, king (1272–1307). The "Hammer of the Scots". Edward turned the longbow into England's most deadly weapon against the Scottish and French with devastating results, most notably at the Battle of Falkirk.
• Sir Barnes Wallis, engineer and inventor. Invented the bouncing bomb, earthquake bomb and geodetic airframe.
• Richard Burton, theatre and film actor.
• Tony Benn, politician, and diarist.
• David Livingstone, explorer. Discovered the origins of the Nile.
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist. Inventor of the World Wide Web.
• Marie Stopes, eugenicist and campaigner for women's rights. Pioneer in the field of birth control.

[bgmnts]

One of those is a mythical person invented by a charlatan, let that sink in.

[Butchers Blind]

17. Michael Crawford, TV, film and theatre actor (Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em on television, and originated the title role in The Phantom of the Opera on the West End).

???

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

And it was fucking Mo Mowlem who advocated Churchill. Even Jeremy Clarkson picked Brunel.

[peanutbutter]

???

Joke campaign iirc

[M-CORP]

Bowie, Pankhurst  and Tim Burners-Lee would be higher, Diana would almost certainly be lower than number 3. Absolutely no way Enoch Powell would even make the list. Captain Cook would not make it as high as no. 12 - No sorry, WHAT THE FUCK IS BOY GEORGE DOING ON THE HDKAKDUGAKFLjdKFBDHFO422ikj5j£@^£I£*$^

[SavageHedgehog]

I seem to recall hearing second hand that Anne Robinson said Thatcher should have been in the Top 10 or something, which confused me because around the same time she had put or tried to put Ben Elton into Room 101 for betraying his 80s "alternative hero" status by working with Webber etc.

[DrGreggles]

Is this the list Jamie Pollock was banned from?

[Sin Agog]

Bit exclusionary the way they all happen to be British people.

[imitationleather]

If it happened today Boris Johnson would be #1.

[Sin Agog]

Why are there no flamenco musicians on this list?

[Sherringford Hovis]

1. Ug. Him invent fire.

Not Og. Og stone-age Edison, steal fire from Ug, take credit.

[BlodwynPig]

New list just out

1. Sir Tom Moore
2. Piers Morgan

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

One of those is a mythical person invented by a charlatan, let that sink in.

Another one is expressly identified as a "eugenicist"

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

New list just out

1. Sir Tom Moore
2. Piers Morgan
3. Princess Kate (the white one)

[Thomas]

I'd love to know the criteria that decided the order as the list grew longer.

75. Bob Geldof
76. The Unknown Warrior
77. Robbie Williams
78. Edward Jenner, physician. Inventor of the smallpox vaccine.

[Wonderful Butternut]

75. Bob Geldof

Born in the quintessential English town of Dun Laoighre.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

Jamie Oliver seems to be a startling omission given what he's done for school dinners etc

[Pink Gregory]

Should each of the Spice Girls get their own entry or...?

[imitationleather]

It's pretty shocking that Jimmy Savile didn't make the list.

[Billy]

This was the early 2000s I think (2002?), so still in the post-Diana few years where she was bound to chart highly. Oliver was still just that bloke on The Naked Chef at the time so pre-Channel 4 school dinner fame.

Do this again and various campaigns/mass voting would make it into something of a mess I think - you'd get right-wing nutjobs (Powell, Thatcher, Linehan etc) etc in the top 10, followed by teen/twentysomething fangirls spamming Harry Styles and various YouTubers no one over 25 has heard of, and a so-called "RickPOLL" getting Astley as high up as possible.

[Gulftastic]

Should each of the Spice Girls get their own entry or...?

Scary
Sporty
Baby
Posh
Ginger

Highest to lowest

[DrGreggles]

Jamie Oliver seems to be a startling omission given what he's done for school dinners etc

Wanked into them?

[solidified gruel merchant]

No Brian cunting Cox? Shows it's age.

[buttgammon]

It's pretty shocking that Jimmy Savile didn't make the list.

Well...

This was the early 2000s I think (2002?), so still in the post-Diana few years where she was bound to chart highly. Oliver was still just that bloke on The Naked Chef at the time so pre-Channel 4 school dinner fame.

Do this again and various campaigns/mass voting would make it into something of a mess I think - you'd get right-wing nutjobs (Powell, Thatcher, Linehan etc) etc in the top 10, followed by teen/twentysomething fangirls spamming Harry Styles and various YouTubers no one over 25 has heard of, and a so-called "RickPOLL" getting Astley as high up as possible.

in this scenario, you'd get a load of edgelords voting for Savile along with the other interest groups here.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

57. Raoul Moat

[Bernice]

This taught me about Brunel, who I then got a minor childhood fascination with. Which is odd because I was never even into Meccano.

The only other memory I have of it is Alan Davies making the case for John Lennon and opening his little VT with "It might seem odd, a guy from Essex, making the case for the greatest scouser to have ever lived", and then assuming for years that Liverpool and Essex had some sort of long standing beef when actually Alan Davies was just talking shit.

[Inspector Norse]

Bit exclusionary the way they all happen to be British people.

apart from Bono, who isn't British.

Or great, come to think of it.

[Butchers Blind]

No Eddie Large?

[Inspector Norse]

One of those is a mythical person invented by a charlatan

That's no way to talk about Julie Andrews