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22 August 2002 01:49 BDST
The great 'Britons', from pop stars and footballers to satanists
By David Lister, Media and Culture Editor
22 August 2002
Michael Crawford, star of the Seventies sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, has contributed more to British life than Wordsworth, Constable or Turner. Discuss.
If nothing else, a poll to decide the greatest people from the British Isles has offered a disturbing insight into how the nation defines greatness.
More than 30,000 people responded to the BBC poll, and the top 100 were revealed yesterday. The top 10 will be disclosed on BBC2 this autumn, with programmes on each of them and a new viewers' vote to decide the greatest.
But sociologists can already have a field day by studying the top 100. Even Jane Root, controller of BBC2, found some of the results odd. "My channel still screens Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Michael Crawford is a wonderful actor, but I'm surprised that a number of people see him as the greatest Briton of all time," she said.
She may also wonder by what criteria they see him as a more notable actor than Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud or Alec Guinness, who are not in the list.
And, while the rules were lax enough to include Irish people, it is odd that Bono of U2 is in the top 100 but not Oscar Wilde.
There may have been internet campaigning by fans, or perhaps views of greatness have undergone a massive shift.
Many on the list arefrom the world of popular music, including Julie Andrews, Boy George, Cliff Richard and Robbie Williams. There are three Beatles ? John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison ? but not a single Rolling Stone.
David Attenborough is the only television presenter and Richard Burton, Andrews and Crawford the only actors. The comedians Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan have been snubbed in favour of Eric Morecambe and Charlie Chaplin.
Literary and artistic rejects include the poets Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Byron and Ted Hughes, the sculptor Henry Moore and the painters Turner and Constable ? but the writers J K Rowling and Chaucer have been given a place.
David Beckham ? who led England's unsuccessful team in this year's World Cup ? features, as does the victorious 1966 captain, Bobby Moore. Only 22 on the list are still alive and only two of those are sports stars ? Beckham and the Olympic oarsman Steve Redgrave.
Ms Root said the architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel would have been her choice for the greatest Briton, because he helped to change the face of the country. Brunel is believed to be in the top 10, as is Churchill, already reported as being at the top, with Shakespeare, Nelson and Queen Elizabeth the First.
The BBC said yesterday that some of the speculation had been wrong. Politicians are in short supply, though Tony Blair has managed enough votes. The right-winger Enoch Powell, whose 1960s "rivers of blood" speech polarised opinions, is in, but the former Labour prime minister Harold Wilson is not.
Diana, Princess of Wales, is included, but there is no place for the Prince of Wales. Royals who do win entry include the Queen and the Queen Mother.
Aleister Crowley, once seen as the most evil man alive, has been chosen.
An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery will accompany the series in the autumn.
The top 100 ? How BBC viewers voted
Music and entertainment:
David Attenborough, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Michael Crawford, David Bowie, Charlie Chaplin, Edward Elgar, Bob Geldof, George Harrison, Paul Hewson (Bono), John Lennon, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Eric Morecambe, George O'Dowd (Boy George), John Peel, Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams.
Royals:
Alfred the Great, King Arthur, Boudicca, Robert Bruce, Diana, Princess of Wales, Edward I, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Henry II, Henry V, Henry VIII, Richard III, Queen Victoria
Science and invention:
Charles Babbage, Alexander Graham Bell, Tim Berners Lee, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, William Caxton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Alexander Fleming, Stephen Hawking, John Harrison, Edward Jenner, John Logie Baird, James Clerk Maxwell, Isaac Newton, George Stephenson, Marie Stopes, Alan Turing, Barnes Wallis, James Watt, Frank Whittle
Politics and philosophy:
Tony Benn, Aneurin Bevan, Tony Blair, Winston Churchill, James Connolly, Oliver Cromwell, David Lloyd George, Thomas More, Thomas Paine, Emmeline Pankhurst, Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher
Military:
Robert Baden-Powell, Douglas Bader, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Horatio Nelson, The Unknown Soldier, the Duke of Wellington
Sport:
David Beckham, Donald Campbell, Bobby Moore, Steve Redgrave
Art and literature:
Jane Austen, William Blake, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, J K Rowling, William Shakespeare, J R R Tolkien
Business:
Richard Branson
Charity and religion:
William Booth, Leonard Cheshire, Florence Nightingale, William Tyndale, John Wesley, William Wilberforce
Exploration:
James Cook, Francis Drake, David Livingstone, Walter Raleigh, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton
Rebels:
Aleister Crowley, Owain Glyndwr, Guy Fawkes, T E Lawrence, William Wallace
22 August 2002 01:49 BDST
The great 'Britons', from pop stars and footballers to satanists
By David Lister, Media and Culture Editor
22 August 2002
Michael Crawford, star of the Seventies sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, has contributed more to British life than Wordsworth, Constable or Turner. Discuss.
If nothing else, a poll to decide the greatest people from the British Isles has offered a disturbing insight into how the nation defines greatness.
More than 30,000 people responded to the BBC poll, and the top 100 were revealed yesterday. The top 10 will be disclosed on BBC2 this autumn, with programmes on each of them and a new viewers' vote to decide the greatest.
But sociologists can already have a field day by studying the top 100. Even Jane Root, controller of BBC2, found some of the results odd. "My channel still screens Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Michael Crawford is a wonderful actor, but I'm surprised that a number of people see him as the greatest Briton of all time," she said.
She may also wonder by what criteria they see him as a more notable actor than Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud or Alec Guinness, who are not in the list.
And, while the rules were lax enough to include Irish people, it is odd that Bono of U2 is in the top 100 but not Oscar Wilde.
There may have been internet campaigning by fans, or perhaps views of greatness have undergone a massive shift.
Many on the list arefrom the world of popular music, including Julie Andrews, Boy George, Cliff Richard and Robbie Williams. There are three Beatles ? John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison ? but not a single Rolling Stone.
David Attenborough is the only television presenter and Richard Burton, Andrews and Crawford the only actors. The comedians Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan have been snubbed in favour of Eric Morecambe and Charlie Chaplin.
Literary and artistic rejects include the poets Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Byron and Ted Hughes, the sculptor Henry Moore and the painters Turner and Constable ? but the writers J K Rowling and Chaucer have been given a place.
David Beckham ? who led England's unsuccessful team in this year's World Cup ? features, as does the victorious 1966 captain, Bobby Moore. Only 22 on the list are still alive and only two of those are sports stars ? Beckham and the Olympic oarsman Steve Redgrave.
Ms Root said the architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel would have been her choice for the greatest Briton, because he helped to change the face of the country. Brunel is believed to be in the top 10, as is Churchill, already reported as being at the top, with Shakespeare, Nelson and Queen Elizabeth the First.
The BBC said yesterday that some of the speculation had been wrong. Politicians are in short supply, though Tony Blair has managed enough votes. The right-winger Enoch Powell, whose 1960s "rivers of blood" speech polarised opinions, is in, but the former Labour prime minister Harold Wilson is not.
Diana, Princess of Wales, is included, but there is no place for the Prince of Wales. Royals who do win entry include the Queen and the Queen Mother.
Aleister Crowley, once seen as the most evil man alive, has been chosen.
An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery will accompany the series in the autumn.
The top 100 ? How BBC viewers voted
Music and entertainment:
David Attenborough, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Michael Crawford, David Bowie, Charlie Chaplin, Edward Elgar, Bob Geldof, George Harrison, Paul Hewson (Bono), John Lennon, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Eric Morecambe, George O'Dowd (Boy George), John Peel, Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams.
Royals:
Alfred the Great, King Arthur, Boudicca, Robert Bruce, Diana, Princess of Wales, Edward I, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Henry II, Henry V, Henry VIII, Richard III, Queen Victoria
Science and invention:
Charles Babbage, Alexander Graham Bell, Tim Berners Lee, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, William Caxton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Alexander Fleming, Stephen Hawking, John Harrison, Edward Jenner, John Logie Baird, James Clerk Maxwell, Isaac Newton, George Stephenson, Marie Stopes, Alan Turing, Barnes Wallis, James Watt, Frank Whittle
Politics and philosophy:
Tony Benn, Aneurin Bevan, Tony Blair, Winston Churchill, James Connolly, Oliver Cromwell, David Lloyd George, Thomas More, Thomas Paine, Emmeline Pankhurst, Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher
Military:
Robert Baden-Powell, Douglas Bader, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Horatio Nelson, The Unknown Soldier, the Duke of Wellington
Sport:
David Beckham, Donald Campbell, Bobby Moore, Steve Redgrave
Art and literature:
Jane Austen, William Blake, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, J K Rowling, William Shakespeare, J R R Tolkien
Business:
Richard Branson
Charity and religion:
William Booth, Leonard Cheshire, Florence Nightingale, William Tyndale, John Wesley, William Wilberforce
Exploration:
James Cook, Francis Drake, David Livingstone, Walter Raleigh, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton
Rebels:
Aleister Crowley, Owain Glyndwr, Guy Fawkes, T E Lawrence, William Wallace
