Tuesday, October 11

100 Greatest British Heroes


By Sarah-Jane Hollands
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In the pages of yesterday's Daily Mail, author George Courtauld, (The Pocket Book of Patriotism) lists his 100 Greatest British Heroes, from his latest offering, The Pocket Book of Patriots.
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We at veryBritishsubjects felt it our patriotic duty to republish the list in it's entirety. The editor of this blog will be adding his comments very shortly in red. In chronological order, George Courtauld's heroes are as follows:
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BOADICEA
c.AD 20-61. Queen who led a revolt against the Romans.
ST.PATRICK
373-463. Converted Ireland to Christianity.
ST.AUGUSTINE
Dates unknown. First Archbishop of Canterbury.
THE VENERABLE BEDE
c.673-735. Theologian and historian.
OFFA
c.735-796. King of Mercia, dubbed King of the English by the Pope.
ALFRED THE GREAT
849-901. King around whom a unified country evolved.
ST.DUNSTAN
924-988. Archbishop of Canterbury and favourite of five kings.
KING HAROLD
1019-1066. Last Saxon King of England.
WILLIAM THE CONQUERER
1027-1087. First Norman King of England.
KING HENRY I
1068-1135. Began the evolution of Parliament.
KING HENRY II
1133-1189. First of the Plantagenets.
LLYWELYN ap GRUFFYDD
c.1228-1282. Known in Wales as Our Last Leader.
KING EDWARD I
1239-1307. The Hammer of the Scots.
ROBERT THE BRUCE
1274-1329. Victor of Bannockburn.
KING EDWARD III
1327-1377. Fought the Hundred Years' War.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
c.1340-1400. Author of The Canterbury Tales.
OWEN GLENDOWER
1359-c.1416. Tried to rid Wales of English rule.
KING HENRY V
1387-1422. Victor of Agincourt.
WILLIAM CAXTON
1421-1491. First English printer, also a translator.
WARWICK THE KINGMAKER
1428-1471. Powerful baron.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
c.1475-1530. Failed to engineer Henry VIII's divorce.
SIR THOMAS MORE
1478-1535. Lord Chancellor who defied Henry VIII.
THOMAS CRANMER
1489-1556. Creator of the Book of Common Prayer.
KING HENRY VIII
1491-1547. Broke with Rome to form Church of England.
WILLIAM TYNDALE
c.1494-1536. Martyr and translator of The Bible.
QUEEN MARY I
1516-1558. 'Bloody Mary', who burned heretics at the stake.
QUEEN ELIZABETH I
1533-1603. Defeated the Armada.
KING EDWARD VI
1537-1553. Boy King, came to throne aged nine.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
c.1540-1596. English sailor and explorer.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
1542-1587. Executed by Elizabeth I.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH
1552-1618. English explorer, courtier and poet.
EDMUND SPENSER
1552-1599. Author of the epic The Fairie Queene.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
1564-1593. Spy and playwright, wrote Dr Faustus.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
1564-1616. Greatest ever playwright.
KING JAMES VI/I
1566-1625. United the crowns of Scotland and England.
OLIVER CROMWELL
1599-1658. Parliamentarian who ruled as Protector.
KING CHARLES I
1600-1649. Belief in divine right of Kings cost him his head.
JOHN MILTON
1608-1674. Puritan poet, wrote the epic Paradise Lost.
GEORGE FOX
1624-1691. Founded the Society of Friends, the Quakers.
JOHN BUNYAN
1628-1688. Wrote The Pilgrim's Progress.
KING CHARLES II
1630-1685. Restored to the throne after the Commonwealth.
JOHN LOCKE
1632-1704. Philosopher, champion of democracy.
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
1632-1723. Architect of St Paul's Cathedral.
SIR ISSAC NEWTON
1642-1727. Identified the force of gravity.
DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH
1650-1722. Victor at Blenheim.
WILLIAM OF ORANGE
1650-1702. Dutch prince, became King of Britain.
JONATHON SWIFT
1667-1745. Author of Gulliver's Travels.
SIR ROBERT WALPOLE
1676-1745. First British Prime Minister.
SAMUEL RICHARDSON
1689-1761. Wrote longest British novel, Clarissa.
JOHN WESLEY
1703-91. Preacher and founder of the Methodist movement.
HENRY FIELDING
1707-54. Author of Tom Jones and campaigner for justice.
WILLIAM PITT THE ELDER
1708-78. Whig Prime Minister.
DR SAMUEL JOHNSON
1709-84. Produced the first English dictionary.
BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE
1720-88. Young Pretender defeated at Culloden.
ADAM SMITH
1723-90. Economist who wrote ground-breaking Wealth of Nations.
CLIVE OF INDIA
1725-74. Victor of Plassey, first Governor of Bengal.
THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH
1727-88. Georgian painter.
GENERAL JAMES WOLFE
1727-59. Captor of Quebec, died in battle.
EDMUND BURKE
1729-97. Philosopher who sympathised with American revolution.
KING GEORGE III
1738-1820. Symbol of patriotic pride during wars with France.
WILLIAM BLAKE
1757-1827. Romantic poet and painter, author of Jerusalem.
LORD NELSON
1758-1805. Victor of Trafalger, died in battle.
WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER
1759-1806. Tory Prime Minister.
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE
1759-1933. Led movement to abolish slavery.
DUKE OF WELLINGTON
1769-1852. Victor of Waterloo.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
1770-1850. Poet inspired by nature.
JANE AUSTEN
1775-1817. Influential and acutely perceptive novelist.
J.M.W.TURNER
1775-1851. painter, use of light aticipated impressionists.
JOHN CONSTABLE
1776-1837. Landscape painter with love of countryside.
ELIZABETH FRY
1780-1845. Quaker and prison reformer.
GEORGE STEPHENSON
1781-1848. Inventor and railway pioneer.
LORD PALMERSTON
1784-1865. Whig Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister.
LORD BYRON
1788-1824. Handsome romantic poet who wrote Don Juan.
SIR ROBERT PEEL
1788-1850. Prime Minister and founder of police force.
JOHN KEATS
1795-1821.
Romantic poet, wrote Ode To A Nightingale.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
1804-81. Novelist and Conservative Prime Minister.
ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEI
1806-59. Built Great Western Railway.
CHARLES DARWIN
1809-82. Developed the theory of evolution
WILLIAM GLADSTONE
1809-98. Liberal Prime Minister and moral crusader.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
1811-63. Journalist author of Vanity Fair.
CHARLES DICKENS
1812-70. Prolific and influential Victorian novelist.
ANTHONY TRO::OPE
1815-82. English novelist who invernted tha pillarbox.
QUEEN VICTORIA
1819-1901. Reigned for 64 years and gave her name to the age.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
1820-1910. Raised nursing to the status of an honoured vocation.
LORD KITCHENER
1850-1916. Poster recruiting sergeant for World War I.
CECIL RHODES
1853-1902. Helped found Rhodesia.
SIR EDWARD ELGAR
1857-1934. Composer, wrote the Enigma Variations
EMMELINE PANKHURST
1858-1928. Suffragette campaigner for women's right to vote.
DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
1863-1945. Liberal Prime Minister, succeeded Asquith.
RUDYARD KIPLING
1865-1936. Empire poet and author of The Jungle Book.
CAPTAIN SCOTT
1868-1912. Doomed Antarctic explorer.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL
1874-1965. Led Britain through World War II.
RUPERT BROOKE
1887-1915. Poet and soldier killed in World War I.
FIELD MARSHAL SLIM
1891-1970. Commanded the 'Forgotten Army' in Burma.
GEORGE ORWELL
1903-50. Author of Animal Farm and 1984.
SIR JOHN BETJEMAN
1906-84. Poet Laureate from 1972.
PHILIP LARKIN
1922-85. poet who echoed the nostalgia of millions.
MARGARET THATCHER
1925- Longest serving 20th Century Prime Minister.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II
1926- Celebrated Golden Jubilee in 2002.
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1 comment:

m a yaqoob said...

a good list but missing many great heroes such as williwm baveridge, anuerin bevin and many like them as well as current favs, becks, blair etc.