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Who They Were
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Briton
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1
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Prime Minister for most of WWII
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Winston Churchill
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2
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Built steam ships, bridges, tunnels, and the Great Western Railway
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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3
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Celebrity princess
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Princess Diana
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4
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Formulated the theory of natural selection
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Charles Darwin
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5
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Greatest of English playwrights
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William Shakespeare
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6
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Invented calculus and the three laws of motion
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Isaac Newton
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7
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Tudor queen
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Queen Elizabeth I
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8
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One of the Beatles
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John Lennon
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9
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Admiral at the Battle of Trafalgar
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Horatio Nelson
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10
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Lord Protector during the Commonwealth Era
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Oliver Cromwell
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11
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Famous for a doomed antarctic expedition that got stuck in sea ice
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Ernest Shackleton
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12
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"Discovered" Hawaii
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Captain James Cook
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13
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Founded the Boy Scouts
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Robert Baden-Powell
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14
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"Great" King of Wessex
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Alfred the Great
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15
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General who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo
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Arthur Wellesley
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16
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First female Prime Minister
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Margaret Thatcher
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17
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Actor who starred in "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em"
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Michael Crawford
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18
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Queen for 63 years
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Queen Victoria
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19
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Another one of the Beatles
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Paul McCartney
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20
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Discovered penicillin
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Alexander Fleming
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21
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Pioneering computer scientist and code breaker who was persecuted for being gay
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Alan Turing
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22
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Self-taught scientist who made important discoveries in electromagnetism and chemistry
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Michael Faraday
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23
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Led Wales's unsucessful fight for independence in the early 1400s
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Owain Glyndŵr
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24
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Longest reigning monarch in British history
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Queen Elizabeth II
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25
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Theoretical physicist who had ALS disease
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Stephen Hawking
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26
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Produced the first English translation of the Bible
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William Tyndale
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27
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Radical suffragette who founded the WSPU
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Emmeline Pankhurst
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28
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Campaigned to end the slave trade, and later, to abolish slavery entirely
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William Wilberforce
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29
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Pop musician whose alter ego was "Ziggy Stardust"
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David Bowie
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30
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Plotted to blow up Parliament with gun powder
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Guy Fawkes
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31
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RAF group captain who won the Victoria Cross in 1944
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Leonard Cheshire
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32
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Comedian who partnered with Ernie Wise
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Eric Morecambe
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33
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Famous footballer who married a Spice Girl
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David Beckham
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34
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Born in England, he migrated to the United States where he wrote "Common Sense" and "The Rights of Man"
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Thomas Paine
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35
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Celtic queen who resisted Roman invasion
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Boudica
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36
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Rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympics
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Steve Redgrave
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37
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Catholic saint who wrote "Utopia", burned heretics at the stake, and was executed in 1535
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Thomas More
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38
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Painter and poet who came just before the Romantic Era
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William Blake
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39
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Invented the marine clock used to establish longitude
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John Harrison
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40
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King who had six wives
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King Henry VIII
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41
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Wrote "Great Expectations" among other novels
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Charles Dickens
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42
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Invented the jet engine
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Frank Whittle
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43
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DJ on BBC Radio 1 from 1967 until 2004
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John Peel
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44
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Invented the television
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John Logie Baird
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45
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Founded the National Health Service
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Aneurin Bevan
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46
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Lead singer of the band Culture Club
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Boy George
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47
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RAF fighter ace who shot down at least 22 planes from 1939-1941
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Douglas Bader
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48
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Scottish freedom fighter, subject of the movie "Braveheart"
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William Wallace
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49
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Sea captain and privateer who circumnavigated the globe
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Francis Drake
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50
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Founder of the Methodist church
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John Wesley
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51
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King who got a sword from a "moistened bint"
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King Arthur
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52
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She is considered the founder of modern nursing
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Florence Nightingale
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53
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British army officer who fought in the Arab Revolt during WWI
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T. E. Lawrence
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54
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Led the second expedition to reach the South Pole
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Robert Falcon Scott
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55
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His 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech opposed mass immigration
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Enoch Powell
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56
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Singer with 14 #1 hits in the UK, with at least one in five different decades
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Cliff Richard
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57
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Scotsman who moved to American and invented the telephone
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Alexander Graham Bell
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58
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Lead singer of Queen
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Freddie Mercury
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59
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Actress from "The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins"
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Julie Andrews
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60
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"Pomp and Circumstance" composer
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Edward Elgar
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61
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Royal who died in 2002 at age 101
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Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
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62
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Yet another one of the Beatles
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George Harrison
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63
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"Planet Earth" narrator
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David Attenborough
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64
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De-facto leader of the Easter Rising in Ireland, executed by firing squad in 1916
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James Connolly
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65
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He built the world's first railway to use steam locomotives
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George Stephenson
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66
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Silent actor whose alter ego was The Tramp
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Charlie Chaplin
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67
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Prime minister, 1997-2007
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Tony Blair
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68
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Introduced the printing press to England in 1476
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William Caxton
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69
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Captain of England's 1966 World Cup winning squad
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Bobby Moore
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70
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"Pride & Prejudice" author
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Jane Austen
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71
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Founded the Salvation Army
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William Booth
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72
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King who won the Battle of Agincourt
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King Henry V
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73
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Occultist who founded a religion called Thelema and is the subject of a song by Ozzy Osbourne
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Aleister Crowley
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74
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King who led the Scottish to independence in the 1300s
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Robert the Bruce
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75
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No one knows
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The Unknown Warrior
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76
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Band Aid founder who wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
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Bob Geldof
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77
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Member of the band Take That
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Robbie Williams
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78
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Created the vaccine for smallpox
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Edward Jenner
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79
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Prime Minister during the second half of WWI
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David Lloyd George
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80
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Invented the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer
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Charles Babbage
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81
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"The Canterbury Tales" poet
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Geoffrey Chaucer
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82
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"Hunchbacked" king who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field
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King Richard III
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83
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"Harry Potter" author
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J.K. Rowling
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84
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His improvements to the steam engine ushered in the Industrial Revolution
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James Watt
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85
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Founder of Virgin
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Richard Branson
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86
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U2 lead singer
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Bono
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87
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Lead singer of the Sex Pistols
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Johnny Rotten
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88
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Commander of Allied forces during the Battle of Normandy in WWII
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Bernard Montgomery
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89
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Broke the land speed and water speed records in the same year (1964)
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Donald Campbell
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90
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King who had Thomas Becket offed
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King Henry II
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91
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Created the mathematical framework for the science of electromagnetism
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James Clerk Maxwell
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92
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"Lord of the Rings" author
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J.R.R. Tolkien
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93
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Tudor courtier who tried to colonize Virginia and popularized smoking
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Walter Raleigh
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94
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English king, known as "Longshanks", who conquered Wales
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King Edward I
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95
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Invented the "bouncing bomb" used to attack German dams in WWII
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Barnes Wallis
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96
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Shakespearean and film actor who married Elizabeth Taylor
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Richard Burton
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97
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He renounced his title as Viscount Stansgate to become a left wing politician in the House of Commons
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Tony Benn
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98
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Explorer who Henry Morton Stanley searched for and found in Africa
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David Livingstone
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99
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Inventor of the World Wide Web
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Tim Berners-Lee
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100
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Founded the first birth control clinic in Britain
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Marie Stopes
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But really how can anyone be truly surprised about that. It is not a new thing that some people that have hardly any skill accomplishment or contribution to their name are popular.
( kind of getting tired of this is an outrage comments... yeahyeah we know... move on...)
Very odd definition of great some people have.
Boy George?
To anyone who thinks referenda (or even democracy) are a good idea, how can you entrust decisions to people who think Princess Diana contributed more to history than Newton or Shakespeare?
I mean, come on! For a hyphen?!?
But Guy Fawkes? Oliver Cromwell? Henry VIII? Enoch Powell?
I don't want to be over simplistic . . . but these were bad people! Murderers and racists.
I get these lists are basically popularity contests, but were some voters just trolling? Or do they think genocide, misogyny, and prejudice make Britain great?
2) This is a list compiled by the BBC, not Quizmaster. You can find the people here.
3) There are 2 non-British people on this list: Bob Geldof and Bono, that are both Irish.
What is Enoch Powell doing on this list? Crawford, Boy George is amusing but Powell being on the list is just plain offensive.