| | | | | | CANADA | FINLAND | FRANCE | CZECH REPUBLIC | UNITED STATES | BELGIUM |
| | | | | | NEW ZEALAND | ROMANIA | HUNGARY | PORTUGAL | BULGARIA | SPAIN |
| | | | | | ARGENTINA | RUSSIA | CHILE | GREECE | UKRAINE | ISRAEL |
First the countries of the world were trying to decide who their best pop star was. Now they're trying to name their best citizens.
Following the lead of Britain, who held a "Greatest Briton" survey in 2002, over a dozen countries have so far held popular votes through their national TV network to determine their greatest citizen.
This is the way it usually works. The network makes a website, where ordinary people can submit names of great individuals. After a certain cut-off point, the network tallies all the entries, and assembles a list of the top ten most popular names. Over the course of the next few weeks, ten local national celebrities (usually of a b-list nature) serve as official "advocates" for one each of the top ten greats on ten special episodes. When this is done, a second public vote is held to rank the top ten, and determine the greatest citizen of all.
Here are the country-by-country results thus far. GUIDE TO COLORS | scientist / inventor | activist | athlete | politician / ruler | TV personality | singer / musician | military figure | author / poet | artist | businessman | actor / director | religious leader | Nobel Prize winner | FB foreign born | X assassinated / murdered |
UNITED KINGDOM
"Greatest Britons" Official Website rank | Name | Profession / reputation | Died | 1 | Sir Winston Churchill | World War II-era prime minister | 1965 | 2 | Isambard Kingdom Brunel | London's leading engineer and architect of the 19th century | 1859 | 3 | Princess Diana | ex-wife of Prince Charles, glamorous social activist | 1997 | 4 | Charles Darwin |