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

Started by Syt, September 22, 2016, 03:01:34 AM

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Syt

Quote from: Gups on September 22, 2016, 04:39:50 AM
No Humbolt?

I doubt many people remember him as anything other than the name giver to a university. His contributions to sciences has slipped from public consciousness. Similar with the Grimm brothers' contribution to cataloguing and analyzing German language.

Humboldt ranked #61, far behind cyclist Jan Ulrich and several footballers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsere_Besten
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Duque de Bragança

Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 04:35:32 AM
Viriato is a shared one, we will require 50% of the credit gained for him.  :P

We as Zamoranos or Galicians?  :P
I guess Pelágio gets shared with Portugal then after all his language or a dialect of it is officialy recognised by Portugal. More of a link with Portugal than say Spain as in Catalonia or Basque Country. .D
Also Columbus gets to be shared by 3 countries. Great candidate for a Euro banknote, when they abandon the abstract, empty style and when PC is curbed.

Gups

Quote from: Syt on September 22, 2016, 04:42:08 AM
Quote from: Gups on September 22, 2016, 04:39:50 AM
No Humbolt?

I doubt many people remember him as anything other than the name giver to a university. His contributions to sciences has slipped from public consciousness. Similar with the Grimm brothers' contribution to cataloguing and analyzing German language.

Humboldt ranked #61, far behind cyclist Jan Ulrich and several footballers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsere_Besten

That's a shame. I've just read a biog of him which seeks to reintroduce him to the English-speaking world. It's sold well and won lost of prizes so may be achieving that aim.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-Nature-Adventures-Alexander-Humboldt-ebook/dp/B00PW4O1SQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1474538420&sr=1-1&keywords=humboldt

His contribution really was immense.

Syt

Thanks for the link. He led an absolutely fascinating life, and was one of the prime researchers/explorers of the 19th century. His older brother Wilhelm also has a very interesting CV.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Archy

The greates Belgian according to the Show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Grootste_Belg

For the Flemish (VRT program)
Pater Damiaan (Father Damian/ helped the leppers in Hawaii)
Paul Janssen (Founder of a Pharmaceutical Company named after him)
Eddy Merckx (need I to explain this)
Ambiorix (the one who fought Caesar)
Adolf Daens (Christandemocrat priest who fought for the poor in parliament, was made a movie about it)
Andreas Vesalius (one of the founding fathers of Anatomy)
Jacques Brel (Famous francophone chansonnier)
Gerardus Mercator (he introduced the word atlas in geography and created the mercatorprojection)
Peter Paul Rubens (famous painter)
Hendrik Conscience (19th century Flemish writer of the "Lion of Flanders", one of the first Flamingants)

For The walloons (RTBF program)
Jacques Brel
Baldwin I of Belgium
Father Damian
Eddy Merckx
Sister Emmanuelle (concurrnece to mother theresa but in Cairo)
José van Dam (opera singer)
Benoît Poelvoorde (Francophone actor)
Hergé
René Magritte
Georges Simenon (Belgian Agatha Christie)


For my grandfather's generation I would also say King Albert II (the soldier king)

The Larch

#20
Seeing the lists from other countries gives some funny results.

In the Greatest Frenchmen one Napoleon only came at #16, behind a bunch of comedians that nobody outside of France has ever heard of. De Gaulle topped that one, followed by Pasteur. Marie Curie was at #4, I wonder if she would have finished as high in a similar poll in Poland.

In the greatest Croatians, #1 was Tito and #2 was Tesla, none of whom are really associated with Croatia by itself at all.

The greatest Brazilian was won by an spiritist medium.  :lol: I would have thought that it would be won by Pelé, but he was only Top 12.

Pim Fortuyn topped the Best Dutch one.  :bleeding:

Surprisingly neither Perón, nor Evita or Maradona won the Greatest Argentinian one.

Bono ended up as the #5 greatest Irishman.

Out of the embarrassment of riches that the Greatest Italian could be, they still sneaked Laura Pausini at #6.  :lol:

In the Greatest Romanian one Vlad Tepes scored a dissapointing #12 spot, sandwiched between Ceaucescu and Gigi Becali (Steaua Bucarest president and extremely nasty and corrupt individual).

Greatest American was...Ronald Reagan.  :huh:

garbon

Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 05:58:15 AM
Greatest American was...Ronald Reagan.  :huh:

I could see that he would score high but wouldn't really put him down as most revered American.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Duque de Bragança

#22
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 05:58:15 AM
Seeing the lists from other countries gives some funny results.

In the Greatest Frenchmen one Napoleon only came at #16, behind a bunch of comedians that nobody outside of France has ever heard of. De Gaulle topped that one, followed by Pasteur. Marie Curie was at #4, I wonder if he would have finished as high in a similar poll in Poland.

You are a bit harsh, a bit ignorant or maybe of the wrong generation. Remember, it is from 2005  :P Fernandel is famous abroad for the Don Camillo series. As for Bourvil, his most famous role abroad might actuallybe a dramatic one in Le Cercle Rouge. Classic noir by Melville. Or is it nowadays only known by cinephiles like Savonarola?  :hmm: Ide knows and probably reviewed that movie.
Coluche is well remembered for his humanitarian association, though perhaps more in France unlike his movies which were exported.

Kind of disappointed that De Funés ended after Napoleon though.  :lol: Or is he another unknown, reserved for the likes of Savonarola? I guess Spanish dubbing does not help too.

Robespierre is there at least, so Valmy will be happy but not Saint-Just.  :(
Zidane before Platini, a generation thing, and before Charlemagne.   :D

Right about poor Vlad the Empaler, I could see him behind Stephen the Great but Ceaucescu?  :cry:


The Larch

Quote from: Duque de Bragança on September 22, 2016, 04:47:03 AM
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 04:35:32 AM
Viriato is a shared one, we will require 50% of the credit gained for him.  :P

We as Zamoranos or Galicians?  :P
I guess Pelágio gets shared with Portugal then after all his language or a dialect of it is officialy recognised by Portugal. More of a link with Portugal than say Spain as in Catalonia or Basque Country. .D
Also Columbus gets to be shared by 3 countries. Great candidate for a Euro banknote, when they abandon the abstract, empty style and when PC is curbed.

I was speaking as half-Zamoran for that one.  :lol:

If you call him Pelágio almost nobody in Spain will know who you're talking about.  :P And yeah, his link to modern Spain is tenuous at best, but he became a mythical figure over time and a certain school of thought put him in a pedestal. It's almost impossible to talk with somebody from Asturias without them bringing him up in a "you should be grateful" ironic kind of way. Claiming him for Portugal is a huge stretch, though, Portugal didn't even exist back then.  :P

garbon

Quote from: Duque de Bragança on September 22, 2016, 06:35:34 AM
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 05:58:15 AM
Seeing the lists from other countries gives some funny results.

In the Greatest Frenchmen one Napoleon only came at #16, behind a bunch of comedians that nobody outside of France has ever heard of. De Gaulle topped that one, followed by Pasteur. Marie Curie was at #4, I wonder if he would have finished as high in a similar poll in Poland.

You are a bit harsh, a bit ignorant or maybe of the wrong generation. Remember, it is from 2005  :P Fernandel is famous abroad for the Don Camillo series. As for Bourvil, his most famous role abroad might actuallybe a dramatic one in Le Cercle Rouge. Classic noir by Melville. Or is it nowadays only known by cinephiles like Savonarola?  :hmm: Ide knows and probably reviewed that movie.
Coluche is well remembered for his humanitarian association, though perhaps more in France unlike his movies which were exported.

Kind of disappointed that De Funés ended after Napoleon though.  :lol: Or is i another unknown, reserved for the likes of Savonarola? I guess Spanish dubbing does not help too.

I'd wager most of those are unknown in the English speaking world too.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Gups

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.

celedhring

Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 06:39:56 AM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on September 22, 2016, 04:47:03 AM
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 04:35:32 AM
Viriato is a shared one, we will require 50% of the credit gained for him.  :P

We as Zamoranos or Galicians?  :P
I guess Pelágio gets shared with Portugal then after all his language or a dialect of it is officialy recognised by Portugal. More of a link with Portugal than say Spain as in Catalonia or Basque Country. .D
Also Columbus gets to be shared by 3 countries. Great candidate for a Euro banknote, when they abandon the abstract, empty style and when PC is curbed.

I was speaking as half-Zamoran for that one.  :lol:

If you call him Pelágio almost nobody in Spain will know who you're talking about.  :P And yeah, his link to modern Spain is tenuous at best, but he became a mythical figure over time and a certain school of thought put him in a pedestal. It's almost impossible to talk with somebody from Asturias without them bringing him up in a "you should be grateful" ironic kind of way. Claiming him for Portugal is a huge stretch, though, Portugal didn't even exist back then.  :P

Over here we don't give much of a hoot about Don Pelayo/Pelagius. Charlemagne >>>>>>>>> Him.

The Larch

Quote from: Duque de Bragança on September 22, 2016, 06:35:34 AM
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 05:58:15 AM
Seeing the lists from other countries gives some funny results.

In the Greatest Frenchmen one Napoleon only came at #16, behind a bunch of comedians that nobody outside of France has ever heard of. De Gaulle topped that one, followed by Pasteur. Marie Curie was at #4, I wonder if he would have finished as high in a similar poll in Poland.

You are a bit harsh, a bit ignorant or maybe of the wrong generation. Remember, it is from 2005  :P Fernandel is famous abroad for the Don Camillo series. As for Bourvil, his most famous role abroad might actuallybe a dramatic one in Le Cercle Rouge. Classic noir by Melville. Or is it nowadays only known by cinephiles like Savonarola?  :hmm: Ide knows and probably reviewed that movie.
Coluche is well remembered for his humanitarian association, though perhaps more in France unlike his movies which were exported.

Kind of disappointed that De Funés ended after Napoleon though.  :lol: Or is i another unknown, reserved for the likes of Savonarola? I guess Spanish dubbing does not help too.

Preto, please. Coluche, Bourvil, Pagnol and Fernandel ahead of Napoleon is a travestry. Out of those the only one who rings a bell for me is Fernandel, but marginally. It's not that I don't think that they don't deserve to be there, is that they're barely known outside of France.

celedhring

I can easily see Napoleon being a controversial figure to a degree within France. Those comedians are probably loved by all, even if much more irrelevant.

Duque de Bragança

#29
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 06:39:56 AM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on September 22, 2016, 04:47:03 AM
Quote from: The Larch on September 22, 2016, 04:35:32 AM
Viriato is a shared one, we will require 50% of the credit gained for him.  :P

We as Zamoranos or Galicians?  :P
I guess Pelágio gets shared with Portugal then after all his language or a dialect of it is officialy recognised by Portugal. More of a link with Portugal than say Spain as in Catalonia or Basque Country. .D
Also Columbus gets to be shared by 3 countries. Great candidate for a Euro banknote, when they abandon the abstract, empty style and when PC is curbed.

I was speaking as half-Zamoran for that one.  :lol:

If you call him Pelágio almost nobody in Spain will know who you're talking about.  :P And yeah, his link to modern Spain is tenuous at best, but he became a mythical figure over time and a certain school of thought put him in a pedestal. It's almost impossible to talk with somebody from Asturias without them bringing him up in a "you should be grateful" ironic kind of way. Claiming him for Portugal is a huge stretch, though, Portugal didn't even exist back then.  :P

Without Pelágio/Pelayo/Pelagius, no Spain and no Portugal as we know them so that is the link, tenuous at best. Spain did not exist back then too. ;)
Plus ,as I said, Asturian or its local dialect in Portugal is enshrined in the Portuguese constitution. Not to mention the ethnic Astur homeland in Roman times included a bit of NE Portugal.

So when is Spain doing the same about Asturian language in its constitution? It is more of a language than Valencian you know. :P
So yes, if Spain drops it from the claims, yes Portugal should drop it.