Churchill and Marilyn Monroe among the BBC's 28 most influential people (2023)

Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe are among the 28 nominees for the coronationBBCthe most influential person of the 20th century, and the public was asked to decide a winner.

By dividing the nominees into seven categories (leaders, explorers, scientists, artists, activists, sports stars and artists and writers), the BBC has tried to cover all walks of life in the 20th century.

This was said by Patrick Holland, controller of BBC 2Malthat "twenty years after the end of the century is time enough to look back "like us"consequences of the twentieth century.

From 8 January, BBC2 will broadcast a series of episodes exploring the lives of the icons, with viewers voting for their favorite at the end, before a grand finale on 5 February to crown the winner.

The Leaders episode will star former British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, as well as the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Passionate advocates Sir Trevor McDonald, Dermot O'Leary, Chris Packham, Kathleen Turner, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Clare Balding and Lily Cole will present the episodes and defend each of the 28 contenders.

Here are the 28 nominees for the most influential person of the 20th century:

Leaders presented by Sir Trevor McDonald

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was a statesman, writer, orator and leader who led Great Britain to victory in World War II. He twice served as Conservative Prime Minister: from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. In the interwar years, Churchill switched from the Liberals to the Conservative Party. Churchill died in 1965 and received a state funeral.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected the 32nd President of the United States in 1932 during the Great Depression. He is the only American president in history to have been elected four times. Before becoming president, he was a clerk at a Wall Street law firm and was also the country's leader during World War II.

Margareth Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher was British Prime Minister for over 11 years, between 1979 and 1990, after winning three consecutive general elections. Even after her death in 2013, Thatcher remains a controversial figure in Britain. Critics claim that her economic policies were divisive or harsh on her policies.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela WarAblack nationalist and South Africa's first black president from 1994 to 1999. He was arrested in 1962 and served 27 years in prison..On February 11, 1990, the South African government of President De Klerk released Mandela from prison. After his release, Mandela was elected vice-president of the African National Congress, becoming the party's president in July 1991. Mandela led the ANC in negotiations with de Klerk to end apartheid.

Explorers presented by Dermot O'Leary

Ernst Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton was born in County Kildare, Ireland, in 1874 before his family moved to London. He joined the merchant marine when he was 16, graduating as a seaman in 1898. Shackleton made two expeditions to Antarctica in 1901 and 1908. In 1914 Shackleton made his third voyage to Antarctica on the ship Endurance, which became trapped in ice. in 1915 and sank ten months later. He and a crew of five spent 16 days crossing 800 miles of ocean to reach South Georgia and get help for the remaining men. He died of a heart attack in 1922.

Gertrude's Bell

Gertrude Bell was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator and archaeologist. After studying history at Oxford, she visited Palestine and Syria in 1899. In 1913 she began her Arab journey and was the second woman after Lady Anne Blunt to visit Ha'il in Saudi Arabia. She is famous for writing an authoritative account of the administration of Mesopotamia during the 1918 armistice and the 1920 Iraqi rebellion. The last three years of her life were devoted to establishing an archaeological museum in Baghdad, where she died in 1926.

Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong stepped out of the Lunar Module Eagle onto the lunar surface, saying, "That's one small step for man, but one giant leap." for mankind". He resigned from NASA in 1971 and became Professor of Air for a few years and of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.

jane goodall

Jane Goodall is a British ethologist who has studied chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. She assisted paleontologist and anthropologist Louis Leakey, which led her to set up camp in the Gombe Stream Game Reserve in June 1960. She discovered that the animals are omnivores, not vegetarians; They are able to make and use tools. In 2002, she became a UN Messenger of Peace.

Scientists featured by Chris Packham

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a Polish physicist best known for discovering the radioactive substance radium with her husband Pierre Curie in 1888. She received the Nobel Prize in 1903 and another in 1911. After her husband's death, Marie became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne in Paris. Her research was crucial to the development of X-rays in surgery. He died on July 4, 1934 of leukemia due to exposure during his research.

Alan Turing

Alan Turing was an English mathematician and a pioneer of theoretical computing and artificial intelligence. During World War II, he was instrumental in breaking the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park, leading to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. In 1945, Turing received an OBE for his services to the country. In 1952, Turing reported a theft to the police, but the perpetrator was discovered to have been having sex with him. Turing was charged with gross indecency, but escaped prison by agreeing to chemical castration. Charges against him were dropped in 2013.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. He is also known for his infamous equation E=mc2. He died in April 1955, aged 76, at Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro, New Jersey, USA.

you you you

Tu Youyou is a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist and educator who discovered artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin, which are used to treat malaria. Discovery of it saved millions of lives in developing countries in South Asia, Africa and South America. During the Vietnam War, Youyou led Project 523, a secret effort to find a treatment for malaria. She and a group of researchers identified plants using remedies described in ancient Chinese medical texts. In 2015, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Animator hosted by Kathleen Turner

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Chaplin KBE was an English comedian, filmmaker and composer who rose to fame in the silent film era. He became a global icon through his screen persona "The Tramp" and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. Born in London in 1889, Chaplin made his stage debut at just five years old. He died in Switzerland in 1977 and thieves removed his body from the tomb.

billy vacation

Billie Holiday, real name Eleanora Fagan, was an American jazz singer with a career spanning nearly thirty years. Her hits include Blue Moon and Strange Fruit. In 1956, he wrote an autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, which was made into a film. Despite having no formal vocal training, Holiday has developed a distinctive sound that is deeply moving. Holiday died in 1959 after his health began to fail due to drug and alcohol abuse.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model and singer. She was famous for playing "blonde bombshell" characters and became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s. Her hit films include Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In May 1962, Marilyn attended a gala in New York City, where she sang Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy, with whom she would have an affair. Monroe's 23 films grossed over $200 million in their first showings.

David Bowie

David Bowie was a prominent figure in the music industry. During his lifetime, his records sold 140 million albums worldwide and he has had 10 certified platinum albums in the UK. He died in 2016. Bowie, whose real name was David Jones, was born in Brixton, London in 1947 and played with The Kon-Rads, The King Bees, The Mannish Boys and The Lower Third in his early days.

Activists Featured by Sanjeev Bhaskar

emmeline pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffrage movement who helped women gain the right to vote. Her daughters Christabel and Sylvia also became involved in the cause. Like many women's rights activists, Emmeline was arrested several times and went on a hunger strike, resulting in force-feeding.

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi was an Indian activist who led the Indian independence movement against British rule. He used non-violent civil disobedience and led India to independence. Gandhi also inspired civil rights and freedom movements around the world.

Helen Keller

Helen Keller was an American author, political activist, and speaker. He was the first deaf-blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts. He lost his sight and hearing at 19 months after an illness that could have been scarlet fever. He wrote several books and, in 1937, encouraged the organization of committees for the blind in 30 states.

Martin Luther King hijo

Martin Luther King Jr. . Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968 while standing on the porch of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee.

Sports stars presented by Clare Balding

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist and philanthropist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time. Ali became the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship three times; He successfully defended this title 19 times.

alto

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was part of the Brazilian teams that won three World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

billie jean rey

Billie Jean King is a former world number one American tennis player. King has won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles and 11 in mixed doubles.

Tanni Grey-Thompson

Carys Davina Grey-Thompson is a Welsh politician, television presenter and former wheelchair user. He was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. Throughout her career, Tanni has broken 30 world records on the track.

Artist and Writer featured by Lily Cole

Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, considered one of the most important modernist writers of the 20th century and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born in South Kensington, London, into a wealthy family. She is best known for her novels, including RS Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, set designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France.

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. His films often have a macabre sense of humor and a dark outlook. His films include The Birds and Psycho.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was an American artist, director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual arts movement known as Pop Art. His work has explored celebrity culture and advertising. One of his most famous pieces is the screen printing of Campbell's soup cans.