Over the past month the BBC have been running a series of programmes to decide the most influential individual of the 20th century in several categories such as Sport, Science and Leaders. The public then voted for their choice, before the winners of each category went up against each other in the final. The winner was announced to be World War Two code breaker, Alan Turing. I feel that the winner and the shortlist (which can be found here) definitely have a British bias, so I thought I'd ask what you guys think. So Phuks, who do you think was the most influential figure of the 20th Century?
True, if you were truly going for a list of the most influential people then you’d have to include a few unsavoury characters, although I’m not sure it would go down right well if they included Hitler. I think most polls turn out to be a popularity contest. Would people still be voting for Turing over some of the other options if The Immitation Game didn’t come out a few years ago? I doubt it.
True, if you were truly going for a list of the most influential people then you’d have to include a few unsavoury characters, although I’m not sure it would go down right well if they included Hitler. I think most polls turn out to be a popularity contest. Would people still be voting for Turing over some of the other options if The Immitation Game didn’t come out a few years ago? I doubt it.
I'd like to attack the shortlist... However, the BBC isn't asking who was the most influential, but to "assess the achievements" of those who were proposed as "most important and influential," making it a sort of "who do you like the most" list.