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Famous Great Britons

 
   


In 2002, the BBC conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considers the 100 Greatest Britons of all time are. This list is below. You can vote for your favourite Briton of all time at the bottom of this page.

1.  Sir Winston Churchill, (1874–1965), Prime Minister during the Second World War.

Winston Churchill was the son of conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife, Jennie Jerome, and a direct descendant from the first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722).

He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.

Churchill proved to be a powerful and respected war leader and has earned his place in British history.

william churchill 
2.  Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (1806–1859), engineer, creator of Great Western Railway and other significant works.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Portsmouth. His father Mark was a French engineer who had fled France during the Revolution. Brunel's first notable achievement was the part he played with his father in planning the Thames Tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping, completed in 1843.

The work for which Brunel is probably best remembered is his construction of a network of tunnels, bridges and viaducts for the Great Western Railway.

Brunel died of a stroke on 15 September 1859. He will be remembered for his outstanding contribution to British Industry.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
3.  Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), first wife of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales (1981–1996) and mother of Princes William and Harry of Wales.

Known lovingly as 'the Queen of Hearts'. Diane was famous all over the world and dedicated much of her life to charity.

Sadly Diane was killed in a car crash in 1997.
Diane princess of wales
4.  Charles Darwin (1809–1882), naturalist, originator of the theory of evolution through natural selection and author of On the Origin of Species.

Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury.

Darwin initially planned to follow a medical career, and studied at Edinburgh University but later switched to divinity at Cambridge.

Darwin worked on his theories for 20 years.  In 1859 Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'.

Darwin died on 19 April 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

 

Charles Darwin at www.buyfromtheuk.co.uk
5.  William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and playwright, thought of by many as the greatest of all writers in the English language

Shakespeare's reputation as dramatist and poet actor is unique and he is considered by many to be the greatest playwright of all time. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner.

Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.

William Shakespeare
6.  Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist, regarded by many as the greatest figure in the history of science

Isaac Newton was born on 4 January 1643 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. His father was a prosperous farmer, who died three months before Newton was born. In 1661, he went to Cambridge University where he became interested in mathematics, optics, physics and astronomy.

It was Newton's reflecting telescope, made in 1668, that finally brought him to the attention of the scientific community and in 1672 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1687, with the support of his friend the astronomer Edmond Halley, Newton published his single greatest work, the 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'

Newton was a difficult man, prone to depression and often involved in bitter arguments with other scientists, but by the early 1700s he was the dominant figure in British and European science. He died on 31 March 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

 

Isaac Newton at www.buyfromtheuk.co.uk the Uk free business directory
7.  Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603), monarch, (reigned 1558–1603)

Elizabeth I is considered one of the country's most successful and popular monarchs. Clever, enigmatic and flirtatious, she rewrote the rules of being Queen.

The reign of Elizabeth I is often thought of as a Golden Age. It was a time of extravagance and luxury in which a flourishing popular culture was expressed through writers such as Shakespeare, and explorers like Drake and Raleigh sought to expand England's territory overseas.

Her 44 years on the throne provided valuable stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.
Queen elizabeteh I
8.  John Lennon (1940–1980), musician with The Beatles, philanthropist, peace activist, artist

John Lennon has been a great influence on the world, not only through his music, but also through other channels such as his art and peace campaigns. Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and biting wit in his music, on film, in books, and at press conferences and interviews.

John married Cynthia Powell on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool. They had a son called John Charles Julian Lennon, who was born in Sefton General Hospital on 8 April 1963. John married married in Yoko Ono in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969. Their had a son, Sean Lennon, who was born on Lennon's 35th birthday, October 9, 1975.

On the night of 8 December 1980, at around 10:50 pm, Mark David Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times in the entrance of the Dakota apartment building.
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9.  Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), naval commander.

Nelson was noted for his ability to inspire and bring out the best in his men: the 'Nelson touch'. His grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics produced a number of decisive victories.  The most famous victory was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was killed.

Nelson could at times be vain, insecure and overly anxious for recognition, but he was also zealous, patriotic and dutiful, as well as courageous. He was wounded several times in combat, losing most of one arm and the sight in one eye. His death at Trafalgar secured his position as one of England's most heroic figures.

Numerous monuments, including Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, have been created in his memory and his legacy remains highly influential.

 

Admiral Nelson
10.  Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), Lord Protector

Oliver Cromwell was born on 25 April 1599 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire into a family of minor gentry and studied at Cambridge University. He became MP for Huntingdon in the parliament of 1628 - 1629. In the 1630s Cromwell experienced a religious crisis and became convinced that he would be guided to carry out God's purpose.

Civil war broke out between King Charles I and parliament in 1642. Cromwell convinced parliament to establish a professional army - the New Model Army - which won the decisive victory over the king's forces at Naseby (1645).

Cromwell became army commander and lord lieutenant of Ireland, where he crushed resistance with the massacres of the garrisons at Drogheda and Wexford (1649).

Lord Protector Cromwell reorganised the national church and established Puritanism.

Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 in London. After the Restoration his body was dug up and hanged.
Oliver Cromwell at www.buyfromtheuk.co.uk the best uk free business directory
11.  Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922), polar explorer

Sir Ernest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish explorer who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

In January 1909 he and three companions made a southern march which established a record Farthest South latitude at 88°23'S, 97 geographical miles (114 statute miles, 190 km) from the South Pole, by far the closest convergence in exploration history up to that time. For this achievement, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.
Sir Ernest Shackleton
12.  Captain James Cook (1728–1779), explorer

Captain James Cook was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy.

Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Cook died in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779.
famous britons captain cook
13.  Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (1857–1941), founder of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides

After having been educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa.

In 1899, stretching his talents and astuteness to the full, Colonel Baden-Powell saved the South African village of Mafeking, after 217 days under siege by the Boers.

he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Pearson, for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a camping trip on Brownsea Island with the local Boys' Brigade and sons of his friends that began on 1 August 1907, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.

Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.
robert baden powell scout leader
14.  Alfred the Great (849?–899), King of Wessex, (reigned 871–899)

Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons".

Most of Alfred's reforms can be seen in the basis of the creation of England. The institutions he formed for governing the land became the eventual basis for parliamentary systems of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations as well the United States Congress.

Alfred the great
15.  Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), military commander, statesman and Prime Minister 1828–1830 and 1834

Born in Ireland to a prominent Ascendancy family, he was commissioned an ensign in the British Army in 1787. Wellesley rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

He remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death in 1852.

duke of wellington
16.  Margaret Thatcher (*3) (born 1925), Prime Minister (1979–1990)

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the daughter of a grocer. In 1951, she married a wealthy businessman, Denis Thatcher, with whom she had two children.

Thatcher became Conservative member of parliament for Finchley in north London in 1959, serving as its MP until 1992. After the Conservatives were defeated in 1974, Thatcher challenged Heath for the leadership of the party and, to the surprise of many, won. In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives came to power and Thatcher became prime minister.

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's first female prime minister and served three consecutive terms in office. In November 1990, she agreed to resign and was succeeded as party leader and prime minister by John Major.
margret thatcher british prime minister
17.  Michael Crawford (born 1942), actor and singer

Michael Crawford was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England as Michael Patrick Dumbell Smith. He made his first stage appearance in the role of Sammy the Little Sweep in his school production of Benjamin Britten's Let's Make an Opera.

While he was riding home on a bus after an audition, he noticed a lorry with the slogan "Crawford's Biscuits Are Best". It was then that he decided to change his name to Michael Crawford.

With a career that spans over four decades, he is known both in and out of Britain for originating the title role in The Phantom of the Opera, as well as playing the hapless Frank Spencer in the popular 1970s British sitcom, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, which successfully earned him a place as a household name and made him famous to millions around the world.
crawford famous brition
18.  Queen Victoria (1819–1901), monarch (reigned 1837–1901)

Her reign as the Queen lasted 63 years and 7 months

Victoria's reign was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire; during this period it reached its zenith, becoming the foremost global power of the time.

She died from declining health on Tuesday 22 January 1901 at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81.

 

Queen Victoria at buy from the UK
19.  Sir Paul McCartney (born 1942), musician with The Beatles

McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.

BBC News named his song "Yesterday" the most covered song in history--by over 2,200 artists--and, according to the BBC has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Based on the 93 weeks his compositions have spent at the top spot of the UK chart, and 24 number one singles to his credit, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history.

McCartney is one of the UK's wealthiest people, with an estimated fortune of £475 million in 2010.

paul mccartney beatles famous briton
20.  Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), pharmaceutical innovator

Sir Alexander Fleming was born at Lochfield near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland on August 6th, 1881. He moved to London at the age of 13 and later trained as a doctor.

In World War One Fleming served in the Army Medical Corps and was mentioned in dispatches. After the war, he returned to St Mary's medical school.

In 1928, while studying influenza, Fleming noticed that mould had developed accidentally on a set of culture dishes being used to grow the staphylococci germ. The mould had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. Fleming experimented further and named the active substance penicillin, 'the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world' - penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections.

Dr Fleming died on March 11th in 1955 and is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

alexander fleming famous briton
21.  Alan Turing (1912–1954), pioneer of computing

Alan Turing was born on 23 June 1912 in London. Alan Turing was born on 23 June 1912 in London.

In 1936, Turing went to Princeton University in America, returning to England in 1938. He began to work secretly part-time for the British cryptanalytic department, the Government Code and Cypher School. On the outbreak of war he took up full-time work at its headquarters, Bletchley Park.

In 1949, he went to Manchester University where he directed the computing laboratory and developed a body of work that helped to form the basis for the field of artificial intelligence.

In 1952, Turing was arrested and tried for homosexuality, then a criminal offence. He committed suicide on 7 June 1954.

alan turing famous briton
22.  Michael Faraday (1791–1867), scientist

Michael Faraday was born on 22 September 1791 in south London. His family was not well off and Faraday received only a basic formal education.

In 1812, Faraday attended four lectures given by the chemist Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution. Faraday subsequently wrote to Davy asking for a job as his assistant. Davy turned him down but in 1813 appointed him to the job of chemical assistant at the Royal Institution.

In 1821 he published his work on electromagnetic rotation (the principle behind the electric motor). In 1831, Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator. This discovery was crucial in allowing electricity to be transformed from a curiosity into a powerful new technology.

He died on 25 August 1867 at Hampton Court, where he had been given official lodgings in recognition of his contribution to science.
michael faraday british scientist 
23.  Owain Glyndwr (1359–1416), Prince of Wales

Owain GlynDwr was born around the 1350s into an Anglo-Welsh gentry family. His estates provided him with a modest power base in north-east Wales. was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales. He instigated an ultimately unsuccessful but long-running revolt against English rule of Wales.

In June 1402, at the Battle of Pilleth on Bryn Glas Hill, GlynDwr led his troops to victory over an English army led by Edmund Mortimer. By now GlynDwr was leading a national revolt. In 1404 a French expeditionary force landed at Milford Haven, and joined with the Welsh to march towards Worcester, capturing several important castles as they went. Before long, however, the English started to regain control of Wales, and support for the revolt faded. By 1408, the rebellion had reverted to a guerrilla war. GlynDwr was now a leader on the run, and he is last mentioned in government records - where terms are offered for his surrender - in February 1416. It is thought that by this time he was already dead.
owain Glyndwr prince of wales 
24.  Queen Elizabeth II (born 1926), reigning monarch (1952–present)

Elizabeth became Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952.

Elizabeth married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren.

Queen elizabeth II
25.  Professor Stephen Hawking (born 1942), theoretical physicist

Professor Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford, England. At St. Albans School where he attended after age 11 he did well but not appear to be amongst the brightest of students. He subsequently went on to do research in Cosmology at Cambridge.

His life was complicated by his becoming aware of suffering from an illness that was diagnosed as the incurable disease ALS, (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a type of motor neurone disease.

Hawking's key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding gravitational singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein–Hawking radiation).
stephen hawking physicist 
26.  William Tyndale (1494–1536), English translator of the Bible
 
27.  Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), suffragette
 
28.  William Wilberforce (1759–1833), humanitarian
 
29.  David Bowie (born 1947), musician
 
30.  Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), English revolutionary
 
31.  Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire (1917–1992), aviator and charity organiser  
32.  Eric Morecambe (1926–1984), comedian  
33.  David Beckham (born 1975), footballer  
34.  Thomas Paine (1737–1809), political philosopher  
35.  Boudica (died c.60), leader of Celtic resistance to the Roman Empire  
36.  Sir Steve Redgrave (born 1962), Olympic rower  
37.  Sir Thomas More (1478–1535), English lawyer and politician  
38.  William Blake (1757–1827), author/poet, painter and printer  
39.  John Harrison (1693–1776), clock designer  
40.  King Henry VIII of England (1491–1547), monarch (reigned 1509–1547)  
41.  Charles Dickens (1812–1870), author

Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to classical English literature. He is the quintessential Victorian author: his epic stories, vivid characters and exhaustive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable.

He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851.

Charles Dickens
42.  Sir Frank Whittle (1907–1996), jet engine inventor  
43.  John Peel (1939–2004), broadcaster  
44.  John Logie Baird (1888–1946), television pioneer  
45.  Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960), politician  
46.  Boy George (born 1961), musician with Culture Club  
47.  Sir Douglas Bader (1910–1982), aviator and charity campaigner  
48.  Sir William Wallace (c.1270–1305), Guardian of Scotland

Wallace was the younger son of a Scottish knight and minor landowner. His name, Wallace or le Waleis, means the Welshman, and he was probably descended from Richard Wallace who had followed the Stewart family to Scotland in the 12th century.

In May 1297 Wallace slew William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark. Soon his rising gained momentum, as men ‘oppressed by the burden of servitude under the intolerable rule of English domination’ joined him ‘like a swarm of bees’.

On 11th September Wallace achieved a stunning victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Militarily he took the war into the north of England, raiding around Newcastle and wreaking havoc across the north. Contemporary English chroniclers accused him of atrocities, some no doubt warranted, however, in Wallace’s eyes the war, since its beginning, had been marked by brutality and butchery.

Wallace evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305. Once captured, he was hanged, drawn and quartered — strangled by hanging but released whilst he was still alive, emasculated, eviscerated and his bowels burnt before him, beheaded, then cut into four parts. His preserved head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge.

 

William Wallace
49.  Sir Francis Drake (c.1540–1596), English naval commander  
50.  John Wesley (1703–1791), founder of Methodism  
51.  King Arthur, legendary Celtic monarch  
52.  Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), nurse and charity campaigner

Florence Nightingale was born into a rich, upper-class, well-connected British family at the Villa Colombaia, Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and was named after the city of her birth.

Inspired by what she took as a Christian divine calling, experienced first in 1837 at Embley Park and later throughout her life, Florence announced her decision to enter nursing in 1845

During the Crimean campaign, Florence Nightingale gained the nickname "The Lady with the Lamp".

On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90, she died peacefully in her sleep in her room at 10 South Street, Park Lane.
Florence Nightingale
53.  T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) (1888–1935), Arabist and soldier  
54.  Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912), polar explorer  
55.  Enoch Powell (1912–1998), politician  
56.  Sir Cliff Richard (*29) (born 1940), musician  
57.  Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), telephone pioneer, placed 9th in the Canadian version  
58.  Freddie Mercury (1946–1991), musician with Queen  
59.  Dame Julie Andrews (born 1935), actress and singer  
60.  Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934), composer  
61.  Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900–2002), Queen consort  
62.  George Harrison (1943–2001), musician with The Beatles  
63.  Sir David Attenborough (born 1926), broadcaster

Sir David Attenborough is Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. His career as a naturalist and broadcaster has spanned nearly five decades and there are very few places on the globe that he has not visited.

Sir David has long been involved with conservation activities, and his television documentaries have inspired a whole generation of environmentalists
David Attenborough
64.  James Connolly (1868–1916), the Scottish born leader of the Irish 1916 rising  
65.  George Stephenson (1781–1848), railway pioneer  
66.  Sir Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), comic actor  
67.  Tony Blair (*1) (born 1953), Prime Minister (1997–2007)  
68.  William Caxton (c.1415~1422–c.1492), English printer  
69.  Bobby Moore (1941–1993), footballer and Captain of England 1966 World Cup winning team  
70.  Jane Austen (1775–1817), author  
71.  William Booth (1829–1912), founder of Salvation Army  
72.  King Henry V of England (1387–1422), monarch (reigned 1413–1422)  
73.  Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), occultist, writer, and social provocateur; founder of Thelema  
74.  Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), King of Scots  
75.  The Unknown Warrior, soldier of the Great War  
76.  Robbie Williams (*17) (born 1974), musician and former member of Take That  
77.  Edward Jenner (1749–1823), pioneer of vaccination  
78.  David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George (1863–1945), Prime Minister (1916–1922)  
79.  Charles Babbage (1791–1871), mathematician and pioneer of computing  
80.  Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343–1400), English author  
81.  King Richard III of England (1452–1485), monarch (reigned 1483–1485)  
82.  J.K. Rowling (born 1965), author  
83.  James Watt (1736–1819), developer of the steam engine  
84.  Sir Richard Branson (*86) (born 1950), businessman and adventurer  
85.  John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) (born 1956), musician  
86.  Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976), military commander  
87.  Donald Campbell (1921–1967), water speed world record challenger  
88.  King Henry II of England (1133–1189), monarch (reigned 1154–1189)  
89.  James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), physicist  
90.  J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973), author and philologist  
91.  Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618), English explorer  
92.  King Edward I of England (1239–1307), monarch (reigned 1272–1307)  
93.  Sir Barnes Wallis (1887–1979), aviation technology pioneer  
94.  Richard Burton (1925–1984), actor 1  
95.  Tony Benn (born 1925), politician  
96.  David Livingstone (1813–1873), missionary and explorer  
97.  Sir Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955), Internet pioneer and inventor of the World Wide Web  
98.  Marie Stopes (1880–1958), promoter of birth control  
99.  John Cleese (born 1939), comedian and actor  
100.  Sir Clive Sinclair (born July 30, 1940), entrepreneur and inventor  

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