Originally posted by Derfel Cadarnhenry ford should be replaced by Benz - he invented the auto you know. (or eli whitney if you care about mass production)
In no order:
Buddy Holly
Henry Ford
Plato
Albert Einstein
Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
Thomas Edison
Alexander Graham Bell
Joan of Arc
Christopher Columbus
i agree with einstein ... the world may be different without him.
i also wonder if we would ever have heard of plato if it had not been for socrates.
how about j.s. bach ... he organised the notes as we all use them in music .. he made a big difference to music.
Originally posted by flexmoreHow about Arthur? The Warlord who changed history? Check in a minute; this will be in the debate forum..
henry ford should be replaced by Benz - he invented the auto you know. (or eli whitney if you care about mass production)
i agree with einstein ... the world may be different without him.
i also wonder if we would ever have heard of plato if it had not been for socrates.
how about j.s. bach ... he organised the notes as we all use them in music .. he made a big difference to music.
Originally posted by Derfel Cadarnif you want warlords then check out :
How about Arthur? The Warlord who changed history? Check in a minute; this will be in the debate forum..
Kings henry 7 and 8 ...they got the brittish empire spreading globally ...
stalin and russian empire (i guess stalin should thank peter the great for setting it up),
or ghengis khan.
(empires of arthur, hitler and napoleon are comparitively small and short lived)
Greatest humans...
I actually think Chancre's comment on Jesus quite funny...
Anyways, in no particular order:
Napoleon
For the obvious reasons: The metric system, translating ancient Egyptian, driving on the right, etc. etc.
Famous quotes:
- "The barbarous custom of having men beaten who are suspected of having important secrets to reveal must be abolished. It has always been recognized that this way of interrogating men, by putting them to torture, produces nothing worthwhile."
and
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
Julius Ceasar
Greatest stratician (well...Rommel was pretty good too) who ever lived. Defeated nearly all of Gaul (Can't escape the truth of Asterix there), shagged Cleopatra (he's da man) and did a whole load of other great things too.
Famous quotes:
- Veni Vedi Vici (I came, I saw and I conquered)
and
- ooooooohhhhh Brutus....
Let me get a little controversial here:
George Lucas
Yeah. I knew you'd say that.
But...to me, growing up with a Star Wars universe and feeling like Luke Skywalker stuck in boredom-central, his creation is extremely great. To me. And since it's all subjective anyways, I feel he should be mentioned.
Famous quotes:
- “If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand in the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office.”
and
- "Damn...I'm rich"
Winston Churchill
He didn't do the speach: "We'll fight them on the beaches, etc.", he got an actor with a great voice to do it.
He got the whole of Britain involved in the "war effort" by getting them to hand in their metals to help make bombs...which of course all got thrown on scrap heaps...but it worked.
There are a lot of things I despise about this man, but his war-PR was so good, I feel it deserves mentioning.
famous quotes:
Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband I'd poison your tea."
Churchill: "Nancy, if I were your husband I'd drink it."
and
Churchill: "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?"
Socialite: "My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course..."
Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?"
Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!"
Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price."
God damn...this is going on for ever...I can be arsed no longer.
But just so you know...
- John Logi Baird (who invented the television)
- Flemming (for antibiotics)
- Whoever invented MP3 (for single handedly dealing the killing blow to the music industry corporations)
- Bob Dylan (greatest lyrics writer ever and twice changer of culture)
- Mary Mcarthur (women's lib Britain)
- Rosa Parks (defying racial prejudice)
- Karl Marx (actually building an economic structure around philosophy, rather than building crap arguments around the greed of the rich).