Who is the most revered person in your country's history?

[Scipio]

George Washington
Ben Franklin
Mark Twain
Frank Lloyd Wright
Elvis

[garbon]

Frank Lloyd Wright

Ugh.

[Valmy]

Who made the silly decision not include Romans? Caesar and Augustus were Italians, no?

Well the Spanish didn't nominate Hadrian or Trajan either

[Malthus]

Who made the silly decision not include Romans? Caesar and Augustus were Italians, no?

Well the Spanish didn't nominate Hadrian or Trajan either

The Syrians didn't nominate Elagabalus.  Though he may be a contender if they had. 

[Valmy]

Did Israel nominate Jesus? 

[Iormlund]

As for Catalans... It's probably King Jaume I (conquered Valencia, Mallorca from the Arabs). He's comfortably the most popular Catalan historic figure, and relatively non-controversial. I guess separatists would pick Lluís Companys, though.

I'd personally vote Salvador Dalí, but I'm a huge fan.

Huh. Jaume was not born nor raised in Catalonia.

[celedhring]

As for Catalans... It's probably King Jaume I (conquered Valencia, Mallorca from the Arabs). He's comfortably the most popular Catalan historic figure, and relatively non-controversial. I guess separatists would pick Lluís Companys, though.

I'd personally vote Salvador Dalí, but I'm a huge fan.

Huh. Jaume was not born nor raised in Catalonia.

He spoke Catalan and was the sovereign of the Catalans - in fact, he was one of the key figures in the development of Catalan as a literary language. Your point?

[Malthus]

Did Israel nominate Jesus? 

It would probably be accurate, if the test is for the world. 

Somehow, Bibi hasn't edged him out yet in international popularity.   

[Iormlund]

As for Catalans... It's probably King Jaume I (conquered Valencia, Mallorca from the Arabs). He's comfortably the most popular Catalan historic figure, and relatively non-controversial. I guess separatists would pick Lluís Companys, though.

I'd personally vote Salvador Dalí, but I'm a huge fan.

Huh. Jaume was not born nor raised in Catalonia.

He spoke Catalan and was the sovereign of the Catalans - in fact, he was one of the key figures in the development of Catalan as a literary language. Your point?

I just think it's kind of weird. It's like choosing Carlos I as the most revered Spaniard.

[Valmy]

Huh. Who would choose Charles V?

Germans?
Dutch people?
Austrians?
Belgians?

[celedhring]

As for Catalans... It's probably King Jaume I (conquered Valencia, Mallorca from the Arabs). He's comfortably the most popular Catalan historic figure, and relatively non-controversial. I guess separatists would pick Lluís Companys, though.

I'd personally vote Salvador Dalí, but I'm a huge fan.

Huh. Jaume was not born nor raised in Catalonia.

He spoke Catalan and was the sovereign of the Catalans - in fact, he was one of the key figures in the development of Catalan as a literary language. Your point?

I just think it's kind of weird. It's like choosing Carlos I as the most revered Spaniard.

Or King Juan Carlos I, who was similarly neither born or raised in Spain 

[Iormlund]

I wouldn't choose him either. 

[Valmy]

He did once tell Hugo Chavez to shut up. That was cool.

[celedhring]

I wouldn't choose him either. 

Neither would I, but he won the "official" contest so that's why I mention him 

To be frank, it's not an awful shout. Even if he's tarnished his legacy a bit, at the end of the day in 1977 he gave up power voluntarily. Some of his ancestors - when faced with similar crossroads - sent this county plunging into the abyss. This alone puts him at the top of the pile when it comes to Spanish monarchs.

[Berkut]

The top 10 list from a big BBC survey in 2002:

1.Sir Winston Churchill
2.Isambard Kingdom Brunel
3.Diana, Princess of Wales
4.Charles Darwin
5.William Shakespeare
6.Sir Isaac Newton
7.Elizabeth I
8.John Lennon
9.Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
10.Oliver Cromwell


Apart from Diana and arguably Lennon, it's a decent enough top 10.

Anything that doesn't have Newton at the top is auto-fail, no matter what.