Icons
Who was the greatest person of the 20th century? That's the question posed by BBC TV show Icons, the live final of which airs this week. In many ways, it's a silly question. There's no clear definition of what makes someone great and comparing people from completely different fields is nigh on impossible, the classic comparing apples and oranges scenario. It's an interesting idea though and today I am going to decide who I think should win.
Let's begin with the categories that I really think should not win. One of these is entertainers; I think that entertainers do not have the significant impact that others do. Sure, lots of people watch and admire them but I think that the impact outside their field is limited. The public voted David Bowie as the greatest entertainer which I suspect is largely just because he died fairly recently.
Similarly, I would argue that sports stars are just another form of entertainers. At least several people in this category did have a wider impact- Tanni Grey-Thompson helped the rise of para-sports and Billie-Jean King did great things in making women's sport closer to being on a par with men. I think though it's fair to say that their impact is mostly confined to sport and not the wider world. Perhaps that is why Muhammed Ali won this category as he used his position to publicly protest the Vietnam War and lost his career because of it.
I think artists can have a significant impact- it would be hard to look past people like Leonardo da Vinci if we were looking at a different century- but I don't think any 20th century artists had a particularly large legacy. The winner of the category was Pablo Picasso which I was quite frustrated by. I think he's one of the most overrated artists of all time. There are plenty of artist's whose work I don't particularly like but I can usually appreciate what the've done to some extent. This is not the case with Picasso.
Explorers is another category which would have been more significant in previous centuries. Most of the world had been explored by the 20th century. There's an argument for Neil Armstrong to have won but I was against this. One reason is that really he was just a tiny part of the huge NASA machine and another is that I think Buzz Aldrin has been a far greater influence in talking about his experiences and inspiring others. I think Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, ought to have been on the list.
Ernest Shackleton won the category largely because of his epic story I suspect. Shackleton and his team were trying to be the first people to cross the Antarctic from one coast to the other but it went terribly wrong when their ship got stuck and then destroyed by sea ice. Shackleton trekked across uncharted land to the nearest help and managed to bring the whole team to safety in the end. It is unquestionably an inspiring story but I can't help but thinking that the whole thing might have been avoided if he's have heeded warning about the bad sea ice in the first place. He also lacks a tangible legacy- he failed in his great mission.
A leader was always going to be a strong contender. Winston Churchill typically wins this kind of vote but perhaps surprisingly he didn't even win his category. Whilst Churchill was certainly the right man to be leading the UK through the Second World War he was a racist and was at least partly responsible for the deaths of millions in the Bengal Famine. It's right that he didn't win. In the end it was Nelson Mandela who won this category, something which I disagree with. Whilst he is hugely significant in improving racial equality, he was sent to prison for being a terrorist, something he even admitted. Can we really vote a terrorist as the greatest person of the 20th century?
My vote for this category went to Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was so popular he's the longest serving president the USA has ever had and restored the country's economy after the Wall Street Crash. He did all this whilst being disabled from polio, a stunning achievement which makes him the most powerful disabled person of all time. What's more he led a fund-raising campaign to create a polio vaccine which succeeded and has led to the near-eradication of the disease across the world.
Activists were hugely important to the 20th century but as important as her fight was I have to rule out Emmeline Pankhurst for similar reason to Mandela- she was essentially a terrorist. The others are all really strong contenders. Helen Keller campaigned on a huge variety of issues despite being deaf and blind which is astounding but I think it's fair to say she's one of the least well-known people on this list. That leaves Gandhi and Martin Luther King who made a significant different using peaceful protests. King won the category, perhaps because of the way he kept speaking out despite how much it was putting his life in danger.
The final category is scientists whose influence on the 20th century and beyond is enormous. Tu youyou was the least well known name on the list and her work led to millions of lives being saved. Albert Einstein and Marie Curie were two of the greatest scientists who have ever lived and either would be a worthy winner- personally I chose Curie because as well as discovering two elements she has saved endless lives by introducing radiotherapy and X-rays for medical use.
Perhaps surprisingly, the winner of the scientists category was Alan Turing. How much his work has led to modern computing is debatable, as is the question of whether modern computing is a good thing. His work was certainly hugely important for winning the war but I think the reason the British public voted for him was mainly guilt for the way he was treated. He was arrested for being gay and chemically castrated which probably led to his suicide. He serves as a reminder for how much we've moved on since the 20th century.
So the finalists are David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Shackleton, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Alan Turing. From that selection I think Martin Luther King ought to win. His speeches are still hugely relevant today and he dared to speak up in a world that wanted him dead. I suspect though that Bowie might win as he's the person on the list that most people know well, though I think it would be a shame if that turns out to be the case.
Personally, I would probably have chosen Franklin D. Roosevelt as the greatest person of the 20th century. He turned America around and inevitably that had a huge impact on the rest of the world. He also led the US into the Second World War and I can only imagine the mess humanity would be in now if that hadn't been the case. He worked hard to raise money to produce a polio vaccine which has saved millions of lives. He did all of this whilst being disabled- it's hard to imagine a disabled leader now but back in the first half of the 20th century it's even more impressive. What an incredible man!
Let's begin with the categories that I really think should not win. One of these is entertainers; I think that entertainers do not have the significant impact that others do. Sure, lots of people watch and admire them but I think that the impact outside their field is limited. The public voted David Bowie as the greatest entertainer which I suspect is largely just because he died fairly recently.
 |
| This post is proof that there really is a Peanuts image for everything... |
I think artists can have a significant impact- it would be hard to look past people like Leonardo da Vinci if we were looking at a different century- but I don't think any 20th century artists had a particularly large legacy. The winner of the category was Pablo Picasso which I was quite frustrated by. I think he's one of the most overrated artists of all time. There are plenty of artist's whose work I don't particularly like but I can usually appreciate what the've done to some extent. This is not the case with Picasso.
Ernest Shackleton won the category largely because of his epic story I suspect. Shackleton and his team were trying to be the first people to cross the Antarctic from one coast to the other but it went terribly wrong when their ship got stuck and then destroyed by sea ice. Shackleton trekked across uncharted land to the nearest help and managed to bring the whole team to safety in the end. It is unquestionably an inspiring story but I can't help but thinking that the whole thing might have been avoided if he's have heeded warning about the bad sea ice in the first place. He also lacks a tangible legacy- he failed in his great mission.
A leader was always going to be a strong contender. Winston Churchill typically wins this kind of vote but perhaps surprisingly he didn't even win his category. Whilst Churchill was certainly the right man to be leading the UK through the Second World War he was a racist and was at least partly responsible for the deaths of millions in the Bengal Famine. It's right that he didn't win. In the end it was Nelson Mandela who won this category, something which I disagree with. Whilst he is hugely significant in improving racial equality, he was sent to prison for being a terrorist, something he even admitted. Can we really vote a terrorist as the greatest person of the 20th century?
My vote for this category went to Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was so popular he's the longest serving president the USA has ever had and restored the country's economy after the Wall Street Crash. He did all this whilst being disabled from polio, a stunning achievement which makes him the most powerful disabled person of all time. What's more he led a fund-raising campaign to create a polio vaccine which succeeded and has led to the near-eradication of the disease across the world.
The final category is scientists whose influence on the 20th century and beyond is enormous. Tu youyou was the least well known name on the list and her work led to millions of lives being saved. Albert Einstein and Marie Curie were two of the greatest scientists who have ever lived and either would be a worthy winner- personally I chose Curie because as well as discovering two elements she has saved endless lives by introducing radiotherapy and X-rays for medical use.
Perhaps surprisingly, the winner of the scientists category was Alan Turing. How much his work has led to modern computing is debatable, as is the question of whether modern computing is a good thing. His work was certainly hugely important for winning the war but I think the reason the British public voted for him was mainly guilt for the way he was treated. He was arrested for being gay and chemically castrated which probably led to his suicide. He serves as a reminder for how much we've moved on since the 20th century.
So the finalists are David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Shackleton, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Alan Turing. From that selection I think Martin Luther King ought to win. His speeches are still hugely relevant today and he dared to speak up in a world that wanted him dead. I suspect though that Bowie might win as he's the person on the list that most people know well, though I think it would be a shame if that turns out to be the case.
Personally, I would probably have chosen Franklin D. Roosevelt as the greatest person of the 20th century. He turned America around and inevitably that had a huge impact on the rest of the world. He also led the US into the Second World War and I can only imagine the mess humanity would be in now if that hadn't been the case. He worked hard to raise money to produce a polio vaccine which has saved millions of lives. He did all of this whilst being disabled- it's hard to imagine a disabled leader now but back in the first half of the 20th century it's even more impressive. What an incredible man!
Comments
Post a Comment