John Tops British Poll

Your great Britons

Last week we invited readers to nominate the people who have done most to shape Britain during the Queen's reign. On the eve of Jubilee weekend, Stuart Jeffries sifts your replies to find who really deserves to be celebrated

Friday May 31, 2002
The Guardian

Guardian readers are, with all due respect, a strange bunch. Last week we asked you to nominate five people who did more to shape Britain than Elizabeth II during her protracted reign. One correspondent suggested Brian Cant's hitherto neglected contribution to the way we live now should be marked. He was, you may not recall, the presenter of the epoch-defining television series PlayAway. Another reader proposed hairy-legged sidekick Ernie Wise but, insanely, not his bespectacled partner, that gifted funnyman Eric Morecambe. One reckoned that Myra Hindley deserved a nomination. Beard Liberation Front spokesman Keith Flett offered 10 influential hirsute men of the second Elizabethan era (Gerry Adams, Willie Rushton et al), which would have skewed the poll absurdly had we not decided to discount his list.
But there were happier contributions. In the Thompson stakes, EP beat Daley by a three to one margin. In the Labour premier face-off, Harold Wilson beat Tony Blair by a five to two margin. Jailed boor Jeffrey Archer was hailed, too: "He completely epitomises the worst of the corrupt, greedy, meglomaniacal politicians, which have become such an increasing feature during the Jubilee years," wrote one correspondent, who omitted to mention Archer's equally baleful impact on our literary culture.

The Princess of Wales, a secular saint, received the same number of votes as the evil media baron Rupert Murdoch. People long dead before Elizabeth emerged from Wesminster Abbey as queen of all she surveyed were deemed influential: the gay Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (d 1900); Emmeline Pankhurst (d 1928); the New Zealand-born physicist and pioneer in the field of radioactivity Sir Ernest Rutherford (d 1937); the novelist George Orwell (d 1950), all received substantial support.

Foreigners, too, were deemed to have been of potent influence on the destiny of this green and pleasant land, as well as the less pleasant bits: be-birthmarked Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev, B-movie-actor turned B-movie president Ronald Reagan were backed, but neither of the Bushes and neither of the Clintons received support. Anarchy-addled punk fans disastrously split their vote by giving some votes to Johnny Rotten, some to his namesake John Lydon and others, perplexingly, to the Sex Pistols' dead bassist, Sid Vicious.

But was the Guardian's decision to have one list of influential Britons correct? Carla Field argued that we should have had two lists: one for those whose influence was malign and one for those whose influence was good. "Baddies would have to include Margaret Thatcher whose destructive influence on this country will be felt for decades to come; Kelvin MacKenzie and all at the Sun; John Major for the privatisation of British Rail; Enid Blyton for her terrible books for children; Lord Halifax and fellow Tory aristos for sucking up to Hitler; the royal family and particularly the late and unlamented Queen Mother. Goodies must include Aneurin Bevan, the BBC, Francis Crick, Alan Turing and Arthur Ransome."

Good points Ms Field, and we will consider introducing this reform for the next such list: maybe for our alternative ruby jubilee. Ah, ruby jubilee - it even sounds good, doesn't it?

But these are trifling points. The big picture is that a peacenik scouser and all-round working-class hero was deemed by Guardian readers the most influential person in making Britain what it has become in the past half century. Imagine!

Recently deceased lovable Brits (Spike Milligan, Barbara Castle) polled well, while Tim Berners-Lee received a lot of votes for, in 1989, proposing a global hypertext project, which eventually became known as the world wide web. Marie Stopes also figured for campaigning on family planning services and fighting to give women control over their fertility, and to allow them - imagine! - to enjoy sex. Here are the results and a selection of your comments.

First: John Lennon

He was at the "cutting edge of the entire 60s movement which changed Britain and the world", writes one correspondent. Lyndsay Wright voted for Lennon and his fellow Beatle Paul McCartney "for sticking two fingers up to the establishment, changing music for ever and proving that you don't have to be moneyed to be gifted or visionary".

Joint second: Margaret Thatcher

"As Osama bin Laden changed the shape of the US," writes Phil Edwards suggestively, "so Margaret Thatcher, unquestionably, has inflicted many damaging blows on Britain - her destruction of trades unions, coal-mining communities, industry etc, and promotion of self-centred greed and subsequent decimation of much of society."

By contrast, Richard Honour writes that: "The nation was in the doldrums until she made the vital, dramatic changes that gave the country back its self-respect."

Joint second: Alan Turing

Nominated by Jon Holland "for shortening the war and making a great contribution to computer technology". Another correspondent writes of the codebreaker: "Not even vaguely recognised for what he did. You probably would not have heard of Bill Gates [chairman of Microsoft] but for Turing. Bill Gates recently refused to contribute to a Turing memorial."

Joint second: Spike Milligan

"The British are rightly acknowledged for our sense of humour, our sense of the absurd, irony, sending up of our own foibles. Spike Milligan was the most significant pioneer of this brand of humour, playing a pivotal role in making the British laugh at themselves throughout the 50s, and influencing all comedians since, from the Monty Python team to Eddie Izzard and the League of Gentlemen. Perhaps also, through his own travails, he helped us become a little bit more tolerant of issues such as mental illness," writes one correspondent. "The gods of odd let us borrow him for a little while," adds Chris Done.

Fifth: Barbara Castle

Keith Scott pithily writes: "Barbara Castle for the seat belt and breathalyser. Saves loads of lives." Mandy Barrie describes Castle as that rare thing, "A completely honest politician, passionate about equality"; while Caroline Watson backs Castle "for fighting for the equal pay act and for child benefit to be paid to the mother".

Joint sixth: The Beatles

The band are nominated by one correspondent, "for creating the soundtrack to our lives". "Well, not so much Ringo, eh?" adds another, more caustic contributor.

Joint sixth: Marie Stopes

"For birth control and the liberation of women from Victorian perceptions of womanhood," writes Gerald Harniman.

And the rest of the nominations were:

Joint seventh: Paul McCartney and Tim Berners-Lee. Joint ninth: Francis Crick and Aneurin Bevan. Joint 11th: Princess Diana and Rupert Murdoch. Joint 12th: Tony Benn, Harold Wilson, Clive Sinclair, the Queen. Joint 16th: Ted Heath, Winston Churchill, William Beveridge. Joint 19th: Emmeline Pankhurst, Germaine Greer, Richard Branson, Frank Whittle, EP Thompson, JK Rowling.

But what kind of Britain was shaped by these people? Rory Hegarty writes: "This was an era in which Britain moved from a staid, deferential society in which poverty and deprivation were swept under the carpet, to one where the World Cup is more popular than the Jubilee and, in spite of the damage done from 1979-97, we have a society which is more open, more dynamic and more able to laugh at itself."

The last word goes to Paul Patrick who nominated himself. But why? "I, too, have been a queen for 50 years, although under somewhat less privileged circumstances. As Britain's first openly gay teacher not to be fired or moved to a 'safe' position and as a campaigner for lesbian, gay and bisexual equality for more than 30 years, I feel I have contributed a lot more to Britain than that other Queen has. I am also more attractive and a lot more fun!"

Respect to you, sir, or perhaps we should say, ma'am

2 > McSeam. Я может быть не прав, но давая такие длинные сообщения на анг. языке - не уважать других членов форума. Не все владеют анг. без словаря и это Российский форум - не английский. Обычно на специфических форумах ин. язык исрользуют для имён, названий мест, песен и т. д. и т.п.. Я не категоричен и это можно и нужно обсудить.

TO CLOUD9
DAVAJTE PESNI BEATLES PET PO RUSSKI.

2 andre давайте!
yви ол лив он э уел сабмарин ...
доволен?!

To Cloud9: Я уважаю всех членов форума :) и знающих английский и не знающих его. Просто последние две недели слишком много дел и переводить времени не хватало. В дальнейшем постараюсь все новости постить на русском.

P.S. А я языком заинтересовался как раз из-за того, что не понимал, что поют битлы, а хотелось :)

Кстати, про доктора, который лечил Харрисона Ая постила сообщение (не маленькое :) и тоже на английском ;)

2 >McSeam / Приветствую и буду читать твои сообщения с удовольствием.

Вот и порешили...