The votes are in. These are the Greatest Britons of all time…
A BBC poll in 2002 crowned Sir Winston Churchill the greatest Briton of all time. More than 20 years later, we asked 50,000 collectors the same thing. Let’s see who took the top spot in 2024…
10. Queen Victoria
Taking the throne at just 18 years old, Queen Victoria’s reign lasted 64 years – the second longest reign of any British monarch. Her devotion to her husband, Albert, is well documented, along with her decision to wear black for the rest of her life following his death.
Reigning through the age of great industrial expansion, Queen Victoria is associated with economic growth, empire, trade and industry. She is best known for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
9. Horatio Nelson
Regarded the greatest officer in the history of the Royal Navy, Nelson’s passion for taking risks lost him his sight in one eye, an arm, and ultimately his life at the Battle of Trafalgar, for which he is best known.
8. Diana, Princess of Wales
Once married to the now King Charles III, Princess Diana was patron or president of over 100 charities. Her most notable causes include working to reduce homelessness, spreading awareness of HIV/Aids and campaigning to ban the manufacturing and use of land mines.
Diana was also closely associated with the fashion world, renowned for her style and grace.
7. Alan Turing
‘The father of modern computing’, Turing is best known for his work for the British Intelligence Service at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, including breaking the German Enigma machine.
As a gay man, Turing was prosecuted for gross indecency in 1952. In 2013 he was posthumously pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II, and in recent years was chosen to be the face of the official British £50 note.
6. William Shakespeare
Generally accepted to be the greatest writer and dramatist of all time, Shakespeare’s plays have been immortalised through the ages, originating hundreds of words and phrases that we use in the English language today.
His most notable works include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, the Merchant of Venice and Sonnets.
5. Charles Darwin
Darwin’s theory of natural selection forms the foundations of all modern evolutionary studies. Shocking for religious Victorian Britain, Darwin kept many of his studies private until the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859 which has had an enormous impact on Western society and thought.
4. Isaac Newton
The inventor of calculus, Newton’s mark on the scientific world is monumental. However, his greatest contribution is the development of a universal law of gravitation and his laws of motion.
A popular myth tells of an apple falling from a tree in Newton’s garden, which brought Newton to an understanding of forces, particularly gravity.
3. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Brunel’s lasting legacy has transformed that way we approach engineering, transport and construction. Many of Brunel’s constructions are widely recognisable – e.g. The Great Western Railway, The Clifton Suspension Bridge, and Paddington Station.
2. Queen Elizabeth II
Celebrated for her stability and continuity in an ever-changing world, Queen Elizabeth II symbolised the endurance of the British monarchy through dedication to public service and charity.
She is the longest reigning monarch in British history, and the only one to reach her Platinum Jubilee.
1. Sir Winston Churchill – the greatest Briton of all time.
Churchill is remembered as one of the great wartime leaders of the 20th century, pivotal to the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany. He also won the Nobel Prize in literature and earned great renown for his stirring speeches.
In the year that marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, we’re reminded why Churchill’s indelible mark on British history reigns supreme and why, more than 20 years later, British devotion to Sir Winston Churchill remains steadfast, with 63% of the vote.
So, it seems Sir Winston Churchill is still considered the greatest Briton of all time. Do you agree? In your opinion is anyone missing from this list? Let us know in the comments what you think.
Learn more about these (and other) fascinating figures who’ve made a lasting impact on our great nation with the NEW Greatest Britons Collection.
I think with these kinds of list you need to look at endurance of legacy and as such subject and more probably the generation in which they influenced should have deceased. We are still talking about the likes of Shakespeare, Darwin and Nelson today I seriously doubt we will be doing the same with Diana, even in 20 years, and depending on values of the future, whether we will still see long lived monarchs as “Great” in 100 years time.
Sir David Attenborough is definitely missing from that list.
A very well chosen list, I don’t think I can add to that.
Thomas cochrane ahead of his time greatest sea captain ever outstanding seamanship .greatly appreciate in Chile than the UK
Winston Churchill is everything that Britain stood for. A worthy example of the country at that time.
Queen Elizabeth ll is a very close second.
She epitomises the country and what it stood for.
Sir Winston Churchill
Nelson & Turing should be way higher than 9 & 7 respectively