I try to stay out of the Off Topic topics but this one is hard to pass up. He was the driving force behind some major cock-ups in WWI that cost 10s of thousands of lives. He was influential in causing and breaking the general strike which was a just campaign to improve the lot of the working class. His was the loudest voice demanding the creation of Israel, a decision for which the world is still paying a high price. He created the conditions that led to the partition of India and all the bloodshed that caused then and now. He colluded with the Americans and French to create Vietnam as a state that was untenable for the majority of its people with the inevitable consequences. I'm not ignoring his WWII contribution but it does irk me that people choose to think of a man with such a blood soaked legacy as the greatest Briton. Darwin for me.
My family is Welsh...we blame him for the Tonypandy riots My family hated him with a vengeance Greatest Briton..what Stan says .........................................................................plus Brunel, Hawkins
Watching the footage of his funeral the other night it was interesting to see the thousands lining the roads/railway line to pay their respects as his coffin was carried to its final resting place. In the eyes of that generation he was a great person after all it was less than 20 years after the end of WW2. It's probably only now with the benefit of hindsight that he is not looked on in quite the same light..... Brunel has to be up there with the best of them......
My mum was from Merthyr and my dad was a trade unionist, so no-one had a good word for Churchill in our house either, Beth.
Elizabeth 1st is my favourite Monach. She certainly is one of the all time great Britons. DT........Churchill got lucky? FFS!
Can never really pick one guy as the greatest. Comparisons are near on impossible. That he is a great is a point that CANNOT be disputed. He inspired and this country to fight on when it seemed doomed. He masterfully managed the American’s to continue to supply us and eventually they joined the war. When you’re in his position during such crucial points in history and adapting to a new word he may well have made mistakes but these are petty and insignificant to his achievements. As i would stress: He saved the world from Nazi domination and if it wasn’t for him the likelihood is you and Britain would haben zu einer nationalsozialistischen und der deutschen Super worden subserviant. Und wenn jemand liest das ist jüdisch. Sie würden wahrscheinlich jetzt nicht existieren For me that puts the criticism's in perspective
My family told me he was lucky however they were mainly freelance spies. We always preferred black leather to those itchy dull green uniforms My grandfather was given a BMW every year until he was shot.
I'm wondering whether Boris Johnson chose today when we commemorate a great man (not flawless - but then who is?) to make outspoken comments about recruits to the death cult ISIL. For those who haven't heard: "If you look at all the psychological profiling about bombers, they typically will look at porn. They are literally w***ers. Severe onanists. "They are tortured. They will be very badly adjusted in their relations with women, and that is a symptom of their feeling of being failures and that the world is against them. "They are rejected by women, they are not making it with girls, and so they turn to other forms of spiritual comfort - which of course is no comfort." May be Winston would have said something similar about members of the Gestapo
Winnie was a great man in many ways, there's no disputing that. But there's no surprise in hearing Damaged Goods making up fairytales about an individual. First Tarratubby and now Churchill. Kia, the more you speak the more I want to put my head beneath a pillow and listen to Boy George on my Walkman.
I'm not sure how one goes about defining greatness, Cate. Certainly many great figures have also been divisive - I suspect that has to be a pre-requisite.
Über, when I asked the question after watching the programme it was because I was unsure myself if I really believed he was the greatest ever Briton as another programme had voted him to be. As you say what defines greatness, and seeing some of the other names on the list of the programme mainly Princess Dianna well that is not much competition. I think having read all the responses today he was the right man to lead us at the time, he inspired the nation to continue to fight, but it was the men and women of this nation that won the war and freed us from the potential of being ruled by Hitler. I understand other people's nominations for the greatest Briton and respect all of their achievements, but who is the greatest of them all, still not sure, maybe they all have a claim for been great but not one stands out to me as being better than others as they are difficult to compare. Back to Churchill was he great at the time of our greatest need yes, was he flawed yes, is he our greatest ever Briton, still no idea.
I used to think it was a bloke thing to try and put everything into a list/top ten! And a little aspergic.....I notice the BBC have put their 100 greatest in alphabetical order......can only be a bloke in an anorak doing that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some urgent re ordering of my stamp collection to get on with.
Anyone watching Wolf Hall on BBC - some amount of schemeing to get rid of Catholic church so Henry 8 could marry Anne Boleyn, all done by a minor figure of history, Thomas Cromwell. As said earlier, it's probably some of the lesser known people from history who are actually the greatest - personally would pick between Newton, Darwin, Babbage or Hawkings.
