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Ermmm no Elizabeth 1 - managed to stop prots and catholics tearing each other apart, managed to remain queen in a world where it was hard for women to get respect e.g. was a political genius etc...
Or Shakespeare although for poetry Milton is way ahead of him.
You could include Bacon in the list.
Moving to a later period Christopher Wren built some stuff, J M W Turner inspired some frog painters and Capability Brown who planted some twigs.
Ambrosius Aurelianus
Alfred ..............the only designated "The Great"
Harold (He tried)
Eadric Silvaticus and the rest of the resistance movement...........
... and everyone thereafter who has done anything to resist the Norman French Usurpers and Oppressors of the indiginous and lastingly settled populations of these islands.
On the subject of Churchill,
Germanys militarisation and march to war could be seen as an attempt at not being out-competed and sidelined by the power of the British Empire- which Churchill was no small part of, and nor was he afraid, as others have pointed out to use morally dubious tactics to maintain its power.
so despite helping to abolish Road Tax- he's out!
I'm gonna be predictable and say Charles Darwin, who was modest, concienscious, and caring and gave something positive back to the whole world, not just Britain.
(anyway, if we have to pick war-mongers from the British isles, I'd say CuChulainn!)
molgrips - MemberEdward I
Hah, unless you're Welsh or Scottish
You'll still be a c*nt
Harsh.. I was just trying to get people to be nice to each other whilst havng a discussion.
Stop whining, it's not pretty.
Ernest Shackleton. Hero.
Shaun Ryder?
Nelson
Shackleton
Capn Cook
Tommy Cooper
The Two Ronnies
My Dad.
The list could be endless but theyr'e my faves.
Aurelianus
😯
General Wade.
Ahh yes billyboy 😀 if it's the greatest briton (arguably) then any anglo-saxon, normans, anglo-normans, scots & irish can't be considered so it has to be
Boudicca or Caractacus starting our long line of heroic losers and
Sir Humphrey Davy or Richard Trevithick could be on the list as Cornishmen.
darwin all the way if only for pissing off creationists
churchill was great at what he did but as a person?- was voted out after the war because of his opposition to creating the nhs and helped create the clusterf$%k that is modern day iraq
Fred Dibnah.
In 2 and a bit pages no sportsmen/women? Interesting on a sports slanted forum.
I believe Steve Peat was mentioned...
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee
William Wallace 😉
Or Isaac Newton, if he'd survived, he'd would have been 367 this year.
nickc - Ranulph Fiennes - he must qualify as a sportsman?! He ran 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days!
Amongst other things.
David Essex
Isn't David Essex from a Romany background?
That'll not get many votes fae the bigots on here!
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Greatest_Britons ]David Bowie at Nº 29[/url], I'm a fan, but 29th greatest Briton!
Robbie Williams at 77 😯
[url= http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/spitmich.htm ]R.J. Mitchell.[/url]
Noel Edmunds
John Stuart Mill
Pete Doherty
Really surprised how few people have said Isaac Newton...
Newtons early career was brilliant, but didn't he spend the rest of his life trying to transmute base metal into gold, and writing letters complaining that Catholics weren't being persecuted enough?
For what it's worth from the US, I think I would have to say Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth (I) when considering the global impact in their times. From the arts/science I would say Shakespeare and Isaac Newton
Well he's not dead yet, but paddedfred is the most wickid awsum briton who ever lived. Although it's not like he ever set foot far from the border of civilised world (border also known as M25).
Can we have him back now.
the paramedic who pumped streptokinase into me 29 minutes into a heart attack! Dont know his name but he will forever be the greatest briton who ever lived.
West Kipper, he did go a bit off 
But he achieved more in his most productive years than, well, than pretty much the entire rest of the royal society combined. And in so many fields, too... Not just a pure scientist either, he ended up running the royal mint and founded the gold standard, not to mention essentially becoming a secret policeman to fight counterfeiting.
Darwin or Wordsworth, I cannae decide.
How can I help you?
[i]How can I help you?[/i]
Not sure it can be resolved - [i]Tintern Abbey[/i] versus [i]The Origin of Species[/i] is a tough call.
I'll settle for both.
I would be very surprised if no one thought of Kirkpatrick MacMillan! But also in no order of choice:
Alexander Fleming
James Watt
It surely has to be a toss-up between Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.
Ernest Shackleton. Hero.
I thought Shackleton's family were Irish? not British
bob geldof
Also Irish
Gerry Adams.
Irish again and great? why?
I thought the thread was Great Briton
Or does this include N.I and the Republic ?
Armando Ianucci
Isambaard Kingdom Brunel for sure
With Tony Wilson coming in a commendable 2nd place...
Sir Richard Burton
mboy - Member
Isambaard Kingdom Brunel for sureWith Tony Wilson coming in a commendable 2nd place...
LOL! I'd agree with that.
Plus [url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2526147.stm ]Spedan Lewis[/url] for proving real Industrial Democracy is possible in Capitalist Society
I cant decide on the order:
Newton
Brunel
Shakespeare
Liz 1
Darwin
smogmonster - Member
Winston Churchill... ..Should also mention his greatest quote 'I, my dear, maybe drunk, but you are ugly...and i will be sober in the morning'. Genius.
I also like the one where he was in a public toilet and left without washing his hands, someone said to him 'At Eaton they taught us to wash our hands when have been to the toilet.'
He replied 'At Harrow they taught us not to piss on our hands.'
My vote is for Newton (and not becasue I happen to have attended his old school) Although he was a bit of a nutter, an alchemist amongst other things and one of his experiments with light involved sticking needles into his own eye!
My mum. end of thread. she's not dead yet tho...
The only reason alchemy sounds nutty to us is because Newton started the way of thinking that we now call science. There was nothing nutty about it 400 years ago.
Alan Turing & Harold Keen might well have lost the last war without them
Greatest Briton? Him innit:
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Harry Hill?