100 Greatest Britons

[Jerzy Bondov]

I was 16 when they did this and it's the first time I can remember getting really fucking pissed off at everyone else in the country. I think it really did have quite a formative effect on me and is the main reason why I don't believe in democracy.

I grew up in Saltash where Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge crosses the Tamar. There are two statues of him and all sorts of stuff is named after him, including my primary school and one of my least favourite pubs. I also went to Brunel University, and lived in Saltash Hall. I don't know if they put me there as a funny joke or if it was just a coincidence. I can't get away from the guy and I'm perversely quite proud of him for getting to number 2 on the biggest bullshit list ever made.

[buttgammon]

They really only did a TV show on the top five, allowing in house RTE people take up time ont he Late Late Show as per usual.
Parnell and Wolfe Tone made it along with writers such as Heaney, Joyce, Wilde, JB Keane and Yeats. No Beckett nor Shaw.

Wiki is here here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland%27s_Greatest

Fair enough - on balance, it's a better list than the British one.

[Crisps?]

These lists being a load of crap aside, I don't think the British one is that bad/embarrassing; world renowned scientists, artists, explorers, inventors and radicals/"terrorists".

Seven of the top 10 Americans (six of the top seven) are just presidents.

[Shit Good Nose]

These lists being a load of crap aside, I don't think the British one is that bad/embarrassing; world renowned scientists, artists, explorers, inventors and radicals/"terrorists".

Agreed.

No list of...well, anything is EVER going to be considered as perfect by everyone.  It's an impossible folly, but people love a list don't they.  Except Neil, obvs.

[idunnosomename]

isaac newton was one of the biggest cunts who ever lived

[Shit Good Nose]

isaac newton was one of the biggest cunts who ever lived

He still owes me a tenner...

[SavageHedgehog]

I was going to eat that apple :(

[Sin Agog]

isaac newton was one of the biggest cunts who ever lived

He got everyone down.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

I think I would add Ben Dover - thespian and cinematographer between Thomas Paine and David Beckham.

lol

[shiftwork2]

That bloke who filled a wheelie bin full of petrol and kept it in his front room.

[Jittlebags]

Barry Norman for services to pickling.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

isaac newton was one of the biggest cunts who ever lived

The ranking is based on his contributions to alchemy, not that gravity shit.

[finnquark]

100 Great Black Britons was done in 2004. Mary Seacole (zzz) at the top, Goldie 89.

[bgmnts]

Why doesn't the link work?

[Kryton]

isaac newton was one of the biggest cunts who ever lived

Oh why's that then?

[finnquark]

Why doesn't the link work?

I just amended it. Soz.

[bgmnts]

Cheers!

21. Arthur Wharton/Andrew Watson

23. Nana Bonsu/Len Garrison

88. Gabrielle/Naomi Campbell

96. Nigel Benn/Chris Eubanks

Hm.

[Pijlstaart]

It's spelt britains, not britons, but i guess thats the kind of quality we've got to expect because its not like you can even compare them all there so different. How do you compare a poet to a war fighter like churchill or trafalgar who would of give their life for this country, its stupid and it just shows that must of us don't have british values at the end of the day, we've forgot who we are. Real list would have ricky hatton, pudsey bear, gary boatsy clarke, alex mcllveen, dugless haig, bradley lowery, the chelsea pensioners and paul dacre.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

It's spelt britains, not britons, but i guess thats the kind of quality we've got to expect because its not like you can even compare them all there so different. How do you compare a poet to a war fighter like churchill or trafalgar who would of give their life for this country, its stupid and it just shows that must of us don't have british values at the end of the day, we've forgot who we are. Real list would have ricky hatton, pudsey bear, gary boatsy clarke, alex mcllveen, dugless haig, bradley lowery, the chelsea pensioners and paul dacre.

I once met Paul Dacre near Old Trafford.   He came across as a very generous man, he signed a football for me, no questions asked.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

Sorry i meant Paul Ince.

[DrGreggles]

Fucking HATE Gary Barlow...

[thenoise]

Whoever makes that cunt's underwear deserves to win this, top every country's list far as I'm concerned.  Absolute hero.

[sevendaughters]

I think Michael Crawford was in because he has a very active fanbase who took an interest in this.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

My favourites are the dead ones.

[idunnosomename]

Oh why's that then?

his lectures at Cambridge - despite his renown as a natural philospher - were poorly attended to the point where literally no one turned up. He insisted on publishing in Latin because he was such a pretentious dickhead. Every account about him is that he was tetchy and secretive.

But the big clincher is when he was master of the mint at the end of his life he pushed to have counterfeiters executed which most people at the time thought was a bit harsh

[shiftwork2]

Master of The Mint?  That sounds well mint.  I wonder if that's how he wangled getting on the five pound note.

[dissolute ocelot]

It was weird at the time of the poll how Brunelmania gripped the land; Brunel was championed by Jeremy Clarkson who despite his faults approached it with a good degree of enthusiasm. Wikipedia says that Brunel Uni and its students also put a lot of effort into it.

A lot of the European versions seem to have picked religious figures suggesting massive campaigns by the Roman Catholic Church, but I'd rather have Brunel or even Michael Crawford near the top than some paedo priest. Of course if they did it today some ironic cunt would get Mr Blobby in the top ten.

I do want statistics on what nation is the worst. Spain made their then king, Juan Carlos, #1 and his wife #4, which is pretty servile. At least Greece put Alexander the Great top and 3 philosophers in the top 10. And guess who was top in India? Obviously B. R. Ambedkar, a jurist and campaigner for Dalits (Untouchables). They deliberately excluded Gandhi by focusing on post-independence.

[Nobody Soup]

surely in the wake of his F1 success in the subsequent years Lewis Hamilton has to take no.3 over Diana as he is actually good at driving.

[TheBrownBottle]

his lectures at Cambridge - despite his renown as a natural philospher - were poorly attended to the point where literally no one turned up. He insisted on publishing in Latin because he was such a pretentious dickhead. Every account about him is that he was tetchy and secretive.

But the big clincher is when he was master of the mint at the end of his life he pushed to have counterfeiters executed which most people at the time thought was a bit harsh

I'd read in a few places he published exclusively in Latin to stop the plebs from having the temerity to ask him questions.  As if publishing Principia in English would mean that every commoner in the country would suddenly 1) learn how to read, 2) read a book as dull as Principia (I'm not impugning its brilliance), or 3) know who he is in first place to stop him in the street.

Hard to disagree with him being a cunt, no matter how brilliant.