blatantly nicked from bethesda forum.

my choice would be leonardo da vinci.

one of few people whom the term genius can wholeheartedly apply to.

along with his extraordinary art,he also studied and drew anatomy (the drawings are incredibly detailed accurate).

oh lets not forget the foresight he had in designing things 500 years before their invention.

a truly remarkable human being.

William S Preston, or possibly Theodore Logan, for being Excellent

So many out there, but on balance, I think I have to agree with Leonardo; I went to the exhibition at Buckingham Palace of his anatomical drawings, and his skill in that alone is jaw-dropping.

Alexander the Great. Conquered the known world without being racist about it .Corresponded with philosophers and scientists. Founded so many cities he ran out of names for them .

Ernest Shackleton.
Cos he was as hard as ****.

Who? Charlemagne.

Why? Carolingian Renaissance.

What now? Thread closed.

My European hero for his imaginative way of impaling.

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (aka Vlad the Impaler)

Lawrence of Arabia, a fascinating and complicated person. His book “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” is certainly worth reading. If he had been listened to a little more, by the politicians of his day, the Middle East might not be in the mess it is today.

Bizarre.
I was beaten to Vlad The Impaler.
I’ll go for Rasputin then.

Leonard Cheshire.

Can’t choose between Oliver Cromwell and William Blake.

John von Neumann. Just an incredible man look at his Wikipedia page. It’s mind boggling how much he contributed to mathematics and science.

Impossible to choose one or even 100 of course, but I’ll throw William Dampier into the thread.

kjcc25 – Member
Lawrence of Arabia, a fascinating and complicated person. His book “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” is certainly worth reading.

Undoubtedly true

If he had been listened to a little more, by the politicians of his day, the Middle East might not be in the mess it is today.

Undoubtedly questionable

Galileo
William Tecumseh Sherman
Robert Johnson

Albert Hoffman.

Tilly Shilling – google her. She was awesome.

Richard Feynman.

Nelson. Quite a cad and a great commander.

teamhurtmore – Member
kjcc25 – Member
Lawrence of Arabia, a fascinating and complicated person. His book “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” is certainly worth reading.
Undoubtedly true

If he had been listened to a little more, by the politicians of his day, the Middle East might not be in the mess it is today.
Undoubtedly questionable

Yes you are right, I think I was being a bit flippant in saying that.

Friedrich Engels

He wrote excellent books like ‘Conditions of the English Working Class’ and ‘Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State’
He nicked money from his family’s business to finance Karl Marx
He scandalised Victorian society by living with 2 women
He loved fox hunting and boozing

All round good bloke

For me… erm… Amerigo Vespucci

Mohammed.

Just to ask him to remember to set down the rules to succession of the caliphate before he croaked. Would save a lot of hassle later.

I’m going with either Saladin or Churchill.

Leonard Cheshire.

Wins for me.

Nicolai Tesla

Linky

Very good Mr. Chips,
Gotta remember that this is most interesting historical character. T. E. Lawrence was pretty interesting; he liked blowing things up, fast motorbikes and being soundly thrashed. However as Feynman was a big fan of strip joints I’m going to vote with Rich_s.

I was going to say Newton or Hooke, but they were both weirdos. So I’m going with Pepys.

Jim Corbett would be good for a few stories.

Obe Wan Kenobi.