Who is the GREATEST BRITON?

[Mister Mets]

I'd go with Shakespeare, arguably the greatest creative mind in world history.

However, Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a very impressive individual who I know little about.

[Mister Mets]

There are a lot of impressive individuals on that list, but how the hell did Richard III make it on there? This is a guy whose main claim to fame was usurping the throne by killing his nephews and then losing his kingdom to Henry Tudor two years later. Though to be fair, he did go out like a boss in a glorious yolo charge and came close to killing Henry in single combat before being surrounded, who knows how different history would have been if he had managed to pull that off?

There's been a reevaulation of Richard the third.

Josephine Tey's book The Daughter of Time lays out an alternate view of history. And that was a bestseller.

He did have some nice accomplishments. He made it possible for people who can't afford legal representation to have their grievances heard VIA the couty of requests, banned restrictions on printing/ selling books, improved bail, had the laws translated from French to English, and made the Council of the North part of the legal machinery until 1641.

[Kirby101]

There are a lot of impressive individuals on that list, but how the hell did Richard III make it on there? This is a guy whose main claim to fame was usurping the throne by killing his nephews and then losing his kingdom to Henry Tudor two years later. Though to be fair, he did go out like a boss in a glorious yolo charge and came close to killing Henry in single combat before being surrounded, who knows how different history would have been if he had managed to pull that off?

If he just had a horse.

[Kieran_Frost]

I voted for Alan Turing. I think all of them are amazing, but I felt he needed a vote (and always good to support one of the greatest LGBT people ever born). There are few people that we can point to and say "without this individual, we would have never won the war"; Turing is one, Churchill is another.

I'd go with Shakespeare, arguably the greatest creative mind in world history.
However, Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a very impressive individual who I know little about.

I'm from Bristol; we're all schooled on his epicness from early on. Spent a lot of my childhood being driven over his Suspension Bridge.

There are a lot of impressive individuals on that list, but how the hell did Richard III make it on there? This is a guy whose main claim to fame was usurping the throne by killing his nephews and then losing his kingdom to Henry Tudor two years later. Though to be fair, he did go out like a boss in a glorious yolo charge and came close to killing Henry in single combat before being surrounded, who knows how different history would have been if he had managed to pull that off?

Never get your history from Shakespeare Richard III was actually a very good king, he was a major contributor to the Council of the North. He did a lot of good; and a lot of laws that we still have today he in-acted/founded the original context. Sadly he was beaten by Henry Tudor, (i.e. Elizabeth I's ancestor); so obviously Shakespeare was going to make him the hero, and Richard the "villain".

[ed2962]

Is that a joke? I mean, all the other people in your post are Brits. I can't tell if you're joking or genuinely don't know that Angus Young is from Australia.

I was joking. I know he and AC/DC are from Australia

[dzub]

I voted for Churchill..
Goldenballs is my favourite living Brit though

[Spike-X]

Is that a joke? I mean, all the other people in your post are Brits. I can't tell if you're joking or genuinely don't know that Angus Young is from Australia.

I can't tell if you're joking or genuinely don't know that Angus Young is from Scotland.

[dancj]

Why is Diana on that list and so far to the top? Since when did being a martyr make you great? (*cough*Jesus*cough*) I mean how does it make her the greatest example of Britain?

She's not even a martyr. She's just someone who married someone famous, had an affair (which I don't blame her for, split up from him and then died.

She did a bit of charity work (which is practically obligatory for someone in her position) but she didn't die for any cause or anything. Most of the country didn't even seem to like her until she died.

[PwrdOn]

She's not even a martyr. She's just someone who married someone famous, had an affair (which I don't blame her for, split up from him and then died.

She did a bit of charity work (which is practically obligatory for someone in her position) but she didn't die for any cause or anything. Most of the country didn't even seem to like her until she died.

Diana never accomplished anything noteworthy in her life, but to be perfectly fair she was never really meant to. She was plucked at a young age to play a very specific and peculiar role and in this capacity she did about as well as can be expected - producing an acceptable heir to the throne and acting as a modern and glamorous counterpoint to the typically stodgy and conservative image of the royal family. And quite frankly, if being beautiful, marrying well, and dying tragically doesn't make one great, then you'd have to disqualify a lot of famous women from the conversation, British or otherwise.

Also, that list is still weird to me even after re-evaluating the legacy of Richard III. I mean, Enoch Powell? Bono is on there and he's not even British. Maybe throw George Washington on there too, at least he was born a British subject.

[SJNeal]

I went with Shakespeare, but only because Zayn Malik wasn't on the list.

[dzub]

I went with Shakespeare, but only because Zayn Malik wasn't on the list.

he does'nt even have a band anymore *fighting words*

nah but what you think is one the cards for him? going solo like beyonce and justin timberlake?

[Kid A]

Thom Yorke

Okay, serious answer is Newton.

[SJNeal]

he does'nt even have a band anymore *fighting words*

nah but what you think is one the cards for him? going solo like beyonce and justin timberlake?

I was actually being sarcastic.

I couldn't care less where he lands, as there will be a dozen more like him (and the "band" that spawned him) cranked out by the industry in the next few years.

[PretenderNX01]

Diana never accomplished anything noteworthy in her life, but to be perfectly fair she was never really meant to. She was plucked at a young age to play a very specific and peculiar role and in this capacity she did about as well as can be expected - producing an acceptable heir to the throne and acting as a modern and glamorous counterpoint to the typically stodgy and conservative image of the royal family. And quite frankly, if being beautiful, marrying well, and dying tragically doesn't make one great, then you'd have to disqualify a lot of famous women from the conversation, British or otherwise.

I suppose it's not an "accomplishment" but her being willing to sit with and even touch people with HIV/AIDs went a long way in demystifying the disease and allowing people with it to not be outcast as much.

[weezer17]

It's nobody but Arthur Wellesley or Horatio Nelson! Great Britons and great men.