Great Britons

[Jebus]

Only defeated the Spanish Armada and made England the most powerful naval state in the world. As well as improved English relations with the rest of Europe, and an overall excellent ruler, if the history books are correct, but when are they ever right?

[Wuggly Blight]

That and I admire her for using her feminity in a time of it being a liability as a asset, and by having the kings of europe drooling at her feet secured her nation's future, oh and make a bankrupt nation a rich and full economy too....

[Meat Puppet]

oh how silly of me i almost Forgot

Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Wishbone Ash, Sisters of Mercy, Judas Priest, Deep Purple and Radiohead, and many others

My vote for best brits be these.

[DocFrance]

How 'bout Johnny Rotten? God Save the Queen, baby.

[Cloud No.9]

you se redneck we aren't so different.

you don't gain citizenship by being born in a country, nor do you gain nationality.

shakespeare did not change the english language. he wrote for the lower classes of the time and was not the greatest playwright either. the guy who wrote faust was. but he died like really really young and so didn't get to write much. language is not changed by one man. it's a gradual cultural thing. shakespeare is over rated purely because he wrote so much and everyone is forced to read him.

as for music people. god danmn it. they did not change anything of any great significance (except geldof) or a greatly important to the history of the nation. truly great people are the ones that are going to be remembered 250 years from now and then still have documentarys about them and their works. musicians will be a blip on the historic world and will not be remembered by any historian. truly great people will.

[gokufusionss1]

being born somewhere does not make you that nationality. if my parents where on holiday in china when i was born would not make me chinese.

yes, but the fact that tony blair has a scotish father and irish mother means he isn't all that english.

[nik0tine]

shakespeare - did not change the english what so ever.

You mean other than revolutionize and completely change the english language?

music people? - yeah cos that's something that is far better than inventors, engineers, genuises and leaderss.

One could argue that many of the greatest musicians have been geniuses. In fact, to say that "music people" are not as good as inventors and geniuses is absurd. (unless your talking about pop musicians). The fact is though, that the great composers were some of teh greatest human beings to have ever graced the face of this planet. You don't give them enough credit. (I can't recall any great composers who were british though, although I know there were some.)

How 'bout Johnny Rotten? God Save the Queen, baby.

He is THE great briton.

[Excelsior]

winning WWII sounds alot more important to me then putting musical notes together and releasing it to the public. plus, although shakespeare was a great writer, i could go MY WHOLE LIFE without ever writing stupid crap about his plays in english class.

[ShunNakamura]

Yes but I think WWII would still have been winable without churchill, although he helped for sure.

Ahem...Shakespeare not a great writer?! A great writer isn't always the one who is easiest understood. The great writer teaches one to build with thier own mind, they teach you thinking and reasoning skills as you read, they teach you.

Shakespeare did all that. His writings are full of different meanigs and interpretations meaning it exercises your mind and helps you become better thinkers, and Shakespeare's plays, sonnents and writing in general can be window to his time period. You just have to look at it right.

To say writers, muscians, and such can not have as large an impact as war leaders is odd. Without the effects and ideas that previous writers/storytellers bestowed, Churchill may not have been how he was and never did anything. Many people are effected by writers, particually GOOD writers.

Now I still think philosphers are more important then writers(though many philosphers also wrote) becaues they come up with ideas, or build upon old ones in ways that many times are "unheard of".

Best britain from those I can think of would be Newton, or some such.. that or some philospher that I am missing.

[nik0tine]

winning WWII sounds alot more important to me then putting musical notes together and releasing it to the public.

Im not sure I can totally agree with you here. That isn't a decision that can be easily made, as both have had incredibly huge impacts on our society. Without the advancement of the arts, society would be so incredibly shallow it would probably cease to function. Art is just as important as anything else.

[ShunNakamura]

Thank you Nik0tine for putting that in a much better way then I did. I don't always get my ideas accross well :rolleyes2

[nik0tine]

Don't worry. You most certainly aren't alone. I am not the best at articulating my thoughts and feelings either.

[The Redneck]

To say writers, muscians, and such can not have as large an impact as war leaders is odd. Without the effects and ideas that previous writers/storytellers bestowed, Churchill may not have been how he was and never did anything. Many people are effected by writers, particually GOOD writers.

On the other hand, without Churchill every copy of Shakespeare in Europe just might have been burned.

[eestlinc]

(I can't recall any great composers who were british though, although I know there were some.)

Britain has produced a few pretty good composers. They were especially good in the Renaissance, with composers like William Byrd, John Dowland, and Thomas Tallis. More recently there's Ralph Vaugh Williams, Edward Elgar (for whom we owe the pleasure of the graduation march), and Benjamin Britten. Of course the best 'British' composer was Georg Frederic Händel, who lived and worked there for much of his career. Haydn also spent some time composing in Britain, although neither were of British descent.

[ShunNakamura]

I will assume The Redneck is being sarcastic with his remark. Anyways what we read has an undenable affect on us, but to tell the truth I don't know if Churchill read Shakespeare and actually READ it.. or not. But if he did it could have impacted him a fair bit, not to mention other writers/philosphers likely had impacts on him... most educated people, particualy in history, read works such as those I am loosely infering to.