The 100 most influential British?

[Cort Haus]

These references to Mill remind me ...

Immanual Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table

David Hume could out consume
Schopenhauer and Hegel

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel

There's nothing Nietzche couldn't teach ya
'Bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed


John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill

Plato they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram

And Rene' Descartes was a drunken fart
"I drink, therefore I am"

Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker
But a bugger when he's pissed

The Pythons!!!

Cleese/Chapman/Palin/Idle/Jones

Gilliam should be in the USians thread.

[Jon Miller]

I have no clue why Douglas Adams is included. He is only important to a certain subclass of nerds.

JM

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I have no clue why Douglas Adams is included. He is only important to a certain subclass of nerds.

JM

He explained how big space is.

Thats enough

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I have no clue why Douglas Adams is included. He is only important to a certain subclass of nerds.

JM

I used to like you Miller.

Now I think you are an odious, contemptible, inadeqate, unnatractive, snivelling, wretched, pathetic, obnoxious, annoying little prat.

And thats worth me getting banned for.

[Cort Haus]

And before I visit Mingapulco for slapping that little turd about, my final nomination for this thread:

Sir Robert Watson-Watt Inventor of Radar

Scotland.

[germanos]

Originally posted by Drogue
However without Newton, we'd wait a bit longer before discovering gravity. My point is to me, having an impact isn't about discovering something that others would have discovered, it isn't about being brilliant, it's about something time-critical, where you had to be there at that time to make that difference.

I'm sorry, but that is just complete bullocks.

Newton's 'discovery' of gravity is a bit more then just stumbling over something that would have been stumbled upon in any case.
It DOES take brilliance to see a bigger picture with something as mondain as the apocriphical apple falling down. Newton didn't 'discover' gravity, he made it comprehensable and his analysis of the phenomenum enabled him (and many others after him) to make many predictions on how the world around us behaves and it has led to many inventions.

One can also invert your statement to something like 'how come mankind have been so stupid not to see the obvious'.

And from the rest of your post it seems only men with guns can achieve something monumental

[Jon Miller]

I like Douglas Adams... just think that in America he has had low impact (Except among a certain subclass of nerds). No one else has even heard of him, and American Artists at least don't copy him.

I mean, it would be like including Heinlen among the 100 most influential Americans.

Even if you were going that angle, I think that Rowling or Tolkien would both be more influential Britishers. (Similiarly how Asmov would be more influential than Heinlen)

Now maybe there are a whole lot of artists, which are popular, which are heavily influence by Adams. Or maybe among the standard population Adams is a lot more popular over there than here.

I am just calling it how I see it.

JM

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by TheStinger


He explained how big space is.

Thats enough

I don't think he has influenced science at all...

JM

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I like Douglas Adams... just think that in America he has had low impact (Except among a certain subclass of nerds). No one else has even heard of him, and American Artists at least don't copy him.

I mean, it would be like including Heinlen among the 100 most influential Americans.

Even if you were going that angle, I think that Rowling or Tolkien would both be more influential Britishers. (Similiarly how Asmov would be more influential than Heinlen)

Now maybe there are a whole lot of artists, which are popular, which are heavily influence by Adams. Or maybe among the standard population Adams is a lot more popular over there than here.

I am just calling it how I see it.

JM

Can you please stop using reasoned arguments

[Arrian]

Douglas Adams

Dunno if he's one of the top 100, though. The Pythons might be.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Why Edward II instead of Edward III? II was a useless *****. III was a badass.

No Henry V?

You've got Francis Drake on their twice.

Thomas Beckett, perhaps?

-Arrian

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller


I don't think he has influenced science at all...

JM

Space is big, no I mean really big, you thought that going to the shops and back was a long way, well thats peanuts compared to space.

Forgive me all those Douglas Adams fans for my almost certain misquoting

[lord of the mark]

some guys you probably will overlook

Chaim Weizman (but he was born in Russia)
Various Rothschilds
Arthur Balfour

Guys you have no excuse for overlooking

Lloyd George
David Ricardo
Benjamin Disraeli

Did someone mention Lord Keynes?

[TheStinger]

John Constable
J W Turner
LS Lowry

All very influentioal artists

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by TheStinger


Space is big, no I mean really big, you thought that going to the shops and back was a long way, well thats peanuts compared to space.

Forgive me all those Douglas Adams fans for my almost certain misquoting

I am well aware of the quote. Doesn't change the fact that he didn't change sciences view of space at all.

JM