classic car forum header
Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
Register     Posting Photographs     Privacy     F/book OCC Facebook     OCC on Patreon

The greatest Briton who ever lived.
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration. Forum Index -> General Motoring & Collectables (inc Classic Caravans)
Author Message
clan chieftain



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 2041
Location: Motherwell

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:11 pm    Post subject: The greatest Briton who ever lived. Reply with quote

Cool Isambard Kingdom Brunel gets my vote.
He worked a 20 hour day nearly all his life. but his achievements were outstanding...bridges , railways, tunnels, boats...to name but a few.
_________________
The Clan Chieftain
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Uncle Joe
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you asking purely within engineering?
Back to top
peppiB



Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 686
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The BBC programme on this chose Winston Spencer Churchill - and he still has my vote overall, but I.K.B. was the best engineer, ahead of father and son Stephenson
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Greeney in France



Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Posts: 1173
Location: Limousin area of France

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Too difficult to define again without categories but I would suggest
Thomas Savery whom in 1698 invented a crude steam engine.
I think the invention of this steam engine and later perfected by Watt and Trevithic not only brought about the industrial revolution but was the beginnings or understanding an engine can produce power and motion
_________________
www.OldFrenchCars.com

We do these things not to escape life but to prevent life escaping us
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
clan chieftain



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 2041
Location: Motherwell

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool Yes within engineering......you cant compare Jagger and Lennon for example against Brunel.
Britons have been the greatest inventors of all time
Trevithick, Watt, Logie Baird,Bell.Dunlop,MacAdam,McAlpine,Armstrong and the list goes on and on.
_________________
The Clan Chieftain
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Job-Rated



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1010
Location: Sugarbeet County

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bell was a thief. Kindly remove his name from your list.

Thomas Crapper is more worthy.
_________________
Don't run your fingers over my truck & I won't run my truck over your fingers!


http://www.loosechange-band.co.uk/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Uncle Joe
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

71marina wrote:
Cool
Britons have been the greatest inventors of all time.


Well, though I do have a tendency to agree that some of those mentioned were great inventors, the two that I consider to be the best were italian and american.....without the first, we wouldnt have cars, and without the second, we wouldnt be able to buy spares for the cars to restore them.
Back to top
pigtin



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1879
Location: Herne Bay

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This being a forum concerned with transport it's understandable that the first "Great Britons" thought of are in that line of business. The great advances in medicine of the twentieth century call to mind Alexander Fleming: the inventor of penicillin. How many of us would have died without it? I would have. Then there's the discovery of DNA... possibly the most significant and lifechanging discovery ever. The names: Crick, Wilkins and the American Watson spring to mind; but what of Rosalind Franklin, who died shortly after making the most significant of the breakthroughs?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7211
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Given the wide range of fields and contributions I think it's really impossible to pick an outright winner even if we were to limit ourselves to vehicle technology.

Peter
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Roverron



Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 134
Location: Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm afraid that if it hadn't been for Winston Churchill I'd be typing this in German. When Churchill was outvoted in the 1945 general election he took his seals of office back to George VI in his Rolls Royce. The new PM Clement Attlee) went in his Standard 10. So a motoring connection (sort of) and an ideal demonstration of the then differences between Conservative and Labour.
_________________
To Hell with ambition, it drives a man mad, I can scarcely wake up to be fed.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Uncle Joe
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After spending a lot of time in Germany recently, I'm not sure if I would have preferred speaking german just now... but really, all that Winston did was clear up the mess that Queen Victoria statred when she died.....so maybe she was the greatest briton ever?
Back to top
ukdave2002



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4231
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chaps (sorry ladies!) surely a momentary lapse of concentration on all your parts! You have not mentioned Sir Alf Shocked
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Roverron



Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 134
Location: Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Garnett?
_________________
To Hell with ambition, it drives a man mad, I can scarcely wake up to be fed.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Rich5ltr



Joined: 28 Mar 2008
Posts: 681
Location: Hampshire, UK

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uncle Joe wrote:
After spending a lot of time in Germany recently, I'm not sure if I would have preferred speaking german just now... but really, all that Winston did was clear up the mess that Queen Victoria statred when she died.....so maybe she was the greatest briton ever?
Are you suggesting that the British Empire was the cause of the 2nd WW? Confused
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
clan chieftain



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 2041
Location: Motherwell

PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wink Isnt it amazing that a lot of the "Great Britons " were Scottish Wink Wink
_________________
The Clan Chieftain
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration. Forum Index -> General Motoring & Collectables (inc Classic Caravans) All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
OCC Merch link
Forum T&C


php BB powered © php BB Grp.