Greatest [insert your nationality] Person

[alva]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
OK- here's a tougher one. If you had to pick one living person for your top 10, who would it be?

I'd pick Sir David Attenborough.

Now there's a life worth living

[Stefu]

Okay, here are the 10 greatest Finns as voted, in no particular order:

Arvo Ylppö, a pediatricist
Urho Kekkonen, was the president of Finland for 25 years
Mikael Agricola, printed the first Finnish-language book (the Bible, natch)
Tarja Halonen, the current president
Aleksis Kivi, wrote 'The Seven Brothers' (which is considered one of Finnish literature mainstays) as well as other such works
Risto Ryti, Finland's president during the Continuation War
Elias Lönnrot, folklorist who put 'Kalevala' together
Adolf Ehrnrooth, WW2 General who later became the face of the veteran community
Jean Sibelius, composed 'Finlandia' and other such works
and of course C. G. E. Mannerheim, the Marshall of Finland and commander of the armed forces in the Civil War and the WW2.

11th was Matti Nykänen. 12th was Väinö Myllyrinne, who indeed ws the 'greatest' Finn in the sense that he was 248 cm tall and, for a while, the tallest man in the world. 13th was Ville Valo.

Good things about the 10 best-list: No truly ridiculous choices (though at Halonen. SHE'S OUR TARJA! THE FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT! YAY! 90% APPROVAL RATING FOR OUR MOOMINMAMMA! HURR!) No pop stars. No commies like Otto Wille Kuusinen (38th). No Pentti Linkola (18th - Jesus Christ already.)

[joncha]

What, no Esa Tikkanen?

[Kropotkin]

O.V. Kuusinen!

[Stefu]

OMG VOTE FRAUD! BUTTERFLY BALLOTS! DIEBOLD! XIIT!

Already accusations are flying that YLE has manipulated the results! According to the accusations, Nykänen and Myllyrinne would have originally belonged to the top ten, but they were removed and replaced Halonen and Ehrnrooth.

DISENFRANCHISED BLACK VOTERS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY!

[Kropotkin]

So what? was anyone from 1st to 37th place buried in the Kremlin wall? I do not think so!!!!

[axi]

What? Top 10 Greeks?

Can't we make it the top 1000 Greeks?

Homer
Pythagoras
Zenon
Heracletus
Herodote
Thucydides
Pericles
Socrates
Plato
Aristoteles
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Lysias
Hippocrates
Xenophon
Demosthenes
Alexander the Great
Diogenes
Democritus
Epicure
Archimedes
Plutarch
....
....
oops! Too many already.

[Lonestar]

Norman Borlaug

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
That list isn't too bad really. I think I'd take out the royals and stick in Wellington or Chaucer, or Turing, or Drake or Raleigh or something. And it's majorly lacking in Scots: Burns, Stevenson, Fleming, Napier.

No Maxell? No Faraday? No Davy? No Darwin?

[Urban Ranger]

Re: Greatest [insert your nationality] Person

Originally posted by Locutus
This is the top 10 Greatest Dutchmen (yes, they're all men unfortunately) that I came up with myself:

What about Niels Bohr? He's Dutch.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by axi
What? Top 10 Greeks?

Can't we make it the top 1000 Greeks?

Homer
Pythagoras
Zenon
Heracletus
Herodote
Thucydides
Pericles
Socrates
Plato
Aristoteles
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Lysias
Hippocrates
Xenophon
Demosthenes
Alexander the Great
Diogenes
Democritus
Epicure
Archimedes
Plutarch
....
....
oops! Too many already.

No MarkG? Let's hope he doesn't ban you for that!

[Locutus]

Re: Re: Greatest [insert your nationality] Person

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
What about Niels Bohr? He's Dutch.

Euhm, no. He was Danish...

[Harovan]

Re: Re: Re: Greatest [insert your nationality] Person

Originally posted by Locutus
Euhm, no. He was Danish...

I'm sure UR just confused these two apostate Germanic tribes.

[Flandrien]

Is it really true that Pim Fortuyn got himself a Bush victory ?

( Winning the election while Willem Van Oranje still got more votes. )

[Laertes]

Originally posted by our_man
Great Irishmen:

1. Michael Collins (1890 - 1922)
2. Theobald Wolfe Tone (1764 - 1798)
3. Eamon de Valera (1882 - 1975)
4. Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691)
5. Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Lots more, but these will do for a start.

Depending on our definition of Irishmen...

6. James Joyce
7. Duke of Wellington
8. Mary Robinson
9. George Bernard Shaw
10. Bono

or Charles Stuart Parnell, Samuel Beckett, Dean Swift, Flann O'Brien