Dynaverse.net
Off Topic => Ten Forward => Topic started by: Strekia on March 16, 2005, 05:47:30 am
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De Gaulle or Piaf, but no Napoleon: poll for French greatest underway
PARIS (AFP)- Charles de Gaulle was the only political leader to feature on a shortlist of ten personalities from whom television viewers are to select the greatest ever French man or woman in history.
The wartime hero's rivals for the billing were two scientists, two comedians, a singer, an underwater explorer and a campaigning monk.
But there was no place for other celebrated leaders such as Napoleon, Charlemagne, Louis XIV or Francois Mitterrand, all of whom featured too low down in the top 100 to qualify. President Jacques Chirac came in at 42.
The 10 names were unveiled in a live broadcast from the upper house of parliament, the Senate, on state-owned France 2 Television. Over the next two weeks the station will broadcast half-hour documentaries in which famous modern-day figures will act as advocates to plead their cause.
The public can vote via the Internet, telephone or text-messages, and the winner will be announced at a second live broadcast from the Senate whose date has to be set.
Apart from de Gaulle, the candidates are: Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur, comics Coluche and Bourvil; writers Victor Hugo and Moliere; singer Edith Piaf; underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau; and -- the only living contender -- 92 year-old Abbe Pierre, who has spent half a century working for the homeless.
In the longer roster of 100 personalities drawn up by a polling institute, Napoleon won 16th position; Charlemagne came in at 22; Mitterrand at 24; Joan of Arc at 31 and Louis XIV at 50. Revolutionary leader Robespierre was in 72nd place.
The top sportsman was Zinedine Zidane at 21, followed by fellow footballer Michel Platini in 41st position, sailor Eric Tabarly at 49, judoka David Douillet at 51 and tennis-man Yannick Noah at 56.
In the acting world, Fernandel (the late Fernand Contandin) was 13th, followed by Louis de Funes and Jean Gabin on 17 and 18 and Jean-Paul Belmondo (news) on 38. Catherine Deneuve (news) was 97th and Gerard Depardieu (news) 99th.
The programme format was pioneered by the BBC with the British public choosing Winston Churchill for the title. In Germany viewers elected Konrad Adenauer, that country's first chancellor following the debacle of World War II, and in the Netherlands Prince William of Orange pipped slain right-wing anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn after a recount.
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My vote goes to Catherine Deneuve. I mean, really, with a voice like that, she has to be the greatest thing to come out of France ever!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/Ahnemesis/CatherineDeneuve.jpg)
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Who cares if she can sing? Look at her.
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Charles Martel. Without him, there would be no France.
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The Marquis de Lafayette
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Well, it could be contested that Charlemagne was actually German and not French...As he was more towards that area which both areas think as theirs...if I recall history correctly...and the crown seat, or the area which went to the Holy Roman Emperor was not the French areas in eventuality, but the areas that are known as Germany/Austria etc. in the 20th century.
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Well, it could be contested that Charlemagne was actually German and not French...As he was more towards that area which both areas think as theirs...if I recall history correctly...and the crown seat, or the area which went to the Holy Roman Emperor was not the French areas in eventuality, but the areas that are known as Germany/Austria etc. in the 20th century.
I didn't know that Dsah.
Thanks :)
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I look at that list, and immediately think Jacques Cousteau would get my vote.
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Same here he was my hero when i was a little kid.
I used to watch him on TV and wish I was diving with him.
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Well, it could be contested that Charlemagne was actually German and not French...As he was more towards that area which both areas think as theirs...if I recall history correctly...and the crown seat, or the area which went to the Holy Roman Emperor was not the French areas in eventuality, but the areas that are known as Germany/Austria etc. in the 20th century.
Most of the original territory of the Holy Roman Empire was in what is now France, but it shifted east after a few hundred years, losing its French territory and gaining the rest of the German/Austrian territory. Charlemagne's government was in Aachen, iirc.
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As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
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As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
The two people that would maybe get my vote aren't even French. ;D Napoleon was Corsican and Charlemagne was German.
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The Marquis de Lafayette
Is there a chance some of you don't know who the The Marquis de Lafayette was?
He was a war hero in the American Revolution and close friend of Washington. He fought at several battles, was wounded, and was a strong champion of American Indiependance. A very interesting charaacter. LaFayette, Indiana was named for him.
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As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
My point exactly! :)
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Marshal Micheal Ney, Marshal Jochim Murat, Marshal Soult, France at one time bred men to fight. this has lasped however.
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As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
Guillaume le batard. aka William the Conquerer. What would England have become without him and the thousands of French troops and nobles he brought over with him?
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Sophie Marceau
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Why, Jean-Luc Picard, of course! ;D
But seriously, I think I'd have to say Marie Curie (though born in Poland she lived and worked in France).
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Why, Jean-Luc Picard, of course! ;D
:smackhead: Now why didn't i think of that! :)
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As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
Guillaume le batard. aka William the Conquerer. What would England have become without him and the thousands of French troops and nobles he brought over with him?
Among whom was one of my ancestors. Which is why for nearly 1000 years there has been at least one man named William in every generation of my family. Including my great-great-great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle, several cousins, and myself.
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As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
Guillaume le batard. aka William the Conquerer. What would England have become without him and the thousands of French troops and nobles he brought over with him?
I think it would have become nearly the same as it is today, except with a Saxon legacy instead of the Norman one.
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I think it would have become nearly the same as it is today, except with a Saxon legacy instead of the Norman one.
I doubt that very much. With his conquest he was able to wipe the slate clean and restart the English Feudal system with many of its flaws removed or reduced. Flaws that France was unable to remove and which crippled the King of France compared to the power of William and his dynasty in England. That allowed him and his heirs for generations a degree of power and control that the previous kings of England (and the kings of France) could only dream of.
A native Saxon couldn't have done what William did because his supporters would have had to help him remove their own power. What feudal lord would cooperate in removing his own power and handing it to another? William didn't have that problem as his followers were gaining new lands and powers, the fact that those powers were less than English lords had previously had didn't matter to them as some power was better than none.
Without that centralization of power in the hands of the King, the country would have remained far weaker. Without that centralization there could be no Prince/King John abusing the power and the resulting Magna Carta that established the principal of a constitution limiting the power of Kings. He was able to establish the prinicpal of primogeniture, which France lacked. Without that principal the lands of aristocrats were constantly being broken down. With it there was a constant stream of younger sons to be independent knights supporting the king to gain lands and titles and the landed domains remained intact.
That lack of centralization of power was a crippling factor in the history of France. France was a far bigger, more populace country with a higher proportion of rich lands yet England was able to fight France on an equal basis, why? Because of the centralization William brought.
With centralized power Englands taxes were lower. With lower taxes peasants had more than mere subsistance levels even in the bad years. In France in bad years the peasants starved. In good years they tried to pay back the debts of the poor years. The difference allowed England to build a dispproportianate middle class compared to France. A middle class that built businesses and supported trade. A middle class that created new products and production systems. A middle class that when the "New World" was found was able to emigrate and found the colonies that built the Empire. Something they could only do because of the relatively low taxes and the higher amount of wealth left in the hands of the common folk.
I suspect that without William and the Conquest England would have been an also ran and the history of Europe and the World would be dominated by either a German or Spanish Empire rather than the British Empire and its spinoffs. The English isles would most likely have been conquered by one of the larger mainland nations, Spain, Germany or France.
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Le Comte de Grasse. He led the French Navy to probably its greatest victory ever at the Battle of Cheasepeake Bay in 1781 and the critical sea chase afterwards. You could say that he hit the clutch single, with a little help from some third-rate British Admirals, to drive in the winning run in the American Revolution ball game.
Also, give an assist to le Comte de Rochambeau for putting his artillery expertise to good use by helping Washington use the French siege guns to really bombard the British at Yorktown. Plus, in the earlier summer months of 1781, he resisted any temptations that the hot-blooded Lafayette gave when the young Marquie kept insisting on a full frontal assault on the British in heavily fortified positions around New York.
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Amother name for consideration, Louis Pasteur
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Sophie Marceau
Still gets my vote as the most attractive woman (ever) in the movies.
Sochin said
As a brit I would question the existance of a greatest frenchman.
That's the beauty of a superlative. You can be "best", without being good at all. ;)
For another nomination:
What about Alexandre Dumas? Jules Verne?
-S'Cipio
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Wasnt Dumas born in the Carribean and of French and African ancestry? I only bring this up because the talent he had obviously wasnt of French origin. ;D