22 August 2017

UK History Hot 100

Every year BBC History polls its readers on their choice of "the historical figures who fascinated you most in 2017." All have to have been dead for 30 years. The table shows the top ten for this and last year which have just been published.

20172016
1Richard IIIRichard III
2Eleanor of AquitaineElizabeth I
3Alfred the GreatWilliam Shakespeare
4Elizabeth IAnne Boleyn
5Anne BoleynHenry VIII
6Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
7Adolf HitlerEleanor of Aquitaine
8Queen VictoriaThomas Cromwell
9William ShakespeareWilliam Marshal
10Henry VIIIAdolf Hitler

Perhaps you find some of the results puzzling, I do. Perhaps they wouldn't if we watched British TV. See the complete list, along with expert commentary here.

I was pleased to see people from the STEM community on the long list including  Isaac Newton (40), Charles Darwin(58), Alan Turing (63), Albert Einstein (65), Marie Curie (86), Nikola Tesla (94),  Isambard Kingdom Brunel (100).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see Nicolai Tesla among the STEM figures. After all the programming devoted to the 1916 Easter Rising and its aftermath, Michael Collins has made my own personal list, but I guess BBC viewers may view him differently because he was fighting against the UK.