Princess Di Beats Newton: What is "Greatness" After All?

[Diche Bach]

Been on a bit of a wiki / Youtube surf session this morning, and my linkage from Siouxsie and the Banshees through various old familiar 80's music led to Freddie Mercury. Pretty astounding fellow. Incredible bravery and strength at the end.

Anyway, what prompted me to start this thread that I hope might just be a general 'pop culture and history' discussion thread was that I noticed in Mercury's wiki page

Mercury was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star".[7] In 2002, Mercury was placed at number 58 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, in 2006,

This led me to the wiki page for the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons, in which we are graced with the determination that Diana Princess of Wales is the 3rd greatest Briton of all time, ranking higher than Darwin, Newton, Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I!?!?

[Holo]

It was based on a television poll of the public, who are fallible.

[Monkeh]

I remember this. I voted for Darwin as he not only totally shook up the scientists from his own field but he also nearly destroyed Christianity as well. What a guy.

[Diche Bach]

Okay, so can some of you Britons explain why she was/is so popular among Britons? I mean sure, she was very pretty and all . . . but on the same list with some of the greatest scientists, statesmen and artists ever?! Not only that but #3!?

It honestly almost makes the list seem like it was vandalized to me!

[lajoswinkler]

I remember this. I voted for Darwin as he not only totally shook up the scientists from his own field but he also nearly destroyed Christianity as well. What a guy.

Oh, come on. You know that's impossible.

That poll is obviously flawed. Newton and Darwin are among the most important men ever. I'd say Darwin was more important.

[pxi]

Okay, so can some of you Britons explain why she was/is so popular among Britons?

Well I'm not British, but I'll take a stab at it anyway.

First of all you need to understand that the British royalty are still pretty popular, and Diana did a hell of a lot of charity work. There was a perception that she was treated very badly by the royal family, and received a lot of sympathetic coverage from the press during her marrige breakup. Then you add a tragic death on top of it all, and you arrive somewhere near the reason for her popularity.

As an aside, if you thought Freddie Mercury was interesting, you might want to take a look at Klaus Nomi. Mercury is often seen as the first celebrity to die of AIDS, but infact Nomi was earlier, and was almost completely abandoned by his friends - in fairness almost nothing was known about AIDS at the time, but it's still tragic watching the documentary 'the Nomi Song', where pretty much everyone interviewed says something to the effect of 'I should have gone to see him at the end'.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrxyxb_the-nomi-song-2004-documentary-the-klaus-nomi-odyssey-he-came-from-outer-space-to-save-the-human-rac_shortfilms

[Diche Bach]

Klaus Nomi, wow. Never heard of him before. Fascinating character, what an amazing voice range!

Will have to clue my wife in on that guy; she loves misfit artist types.