BBC News : French top 100 reveals surprises
I don't know why so many French people still regard de Gaulle so highly.
It's difficult to mix politicians, artists and athletes, so here is my ranking per category :
Top monarchs :
Napoleon Bonaparte
Louis XIV
Philip IV
Francis I
Henry IV
Top painters and sculptors:
Louis David
Auguste Rodin
Renoir
Toulouse-Lautrec
Cezanne
Gauguin
Monet
Manet
Matisse
Top architects:
Gustave Eiffel
Viollet-le-Duc
Vauban
Le Corbusier
Top composers:
Bizet
Hector Berlioz
Camille Saint-Saens
Jacques Offenbach
Claude Debussy
Jean Philippe Rameau
Jean-Michel Jarre
Top writers:
Victor Hugo
Jules Verne
Alexandre Dumas
Gustave Flaubert
Emile Zola
Moliere
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Charles Baudelaire
Arthur Rimbaud
Francois Rabelais
Guy de Maupassant
Marcel Proust
Jean de La Fontaine
Top philosophers :
Voltaire
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Paul Sartre
Denis Diderot
Rene Descartes
Albert Camus
Top scientists and intellectuals:
Marie Curie
Louis Pasteur
Auguste and Louis Lumière (inventors of the cinema)
Montgolfier brothers
Jacques Cousteau
Claude Levi-Strauss
Blaise Pascal
Jean-Francois Champollion
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier
Top actors/actresses & filmmakers:
Jean Reno
Christian Clavier
Luc Besson
Louis de Funese
Jean Gabin
Bourvil
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Catherine Deneuve
Alain Delon
Francois Truffaut
Jean-Luc Godard
Top designers:
Coco Chanel
Christian Dior
Yves Saint-Laurent
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Edouard de Givenchy
Pierre Cardin
Others
Pierre de Coubertin - initiator of the modern Olympic Games
Jean Monnet - one of the founding fathers of the EEC and EU
Jacques Delors - 3x President of the European Commission
BBC said:The French have been voting to choose their greatest compatriot of all time, prompting a few shocks and surprises.
...
Top 10
Charles de Gaulle
Marie Curie
Louis Pasteur
Coluche
Bourvil
Victor Hugo
Moliere
Edith Piaf
Jacques Cousteau
Abbe Pierre
I don't know why so many French people still regard de Gaulle so highly.
It's difficult to mix politicians, artists and athletes, so here is my ranking per category :
Top monarchs :
Napoleon Bonaparte
Louis XIV
Philip IV
Francis I
Henry IV
Top painters and sculptors:
Louis David
Auguste Rodin
Renoir
Toulouse-Lautrec
Cezanne
Gauguin
Monet
Manet
Matisse
Top architects:
Gustave Eiffel
Viollet-le-Duc
Vauban
Le Corbusier
Top composers:
Bizet
Hector Berlioz
Camille Saint-Saens
Jacques Offenbach
Claude Debussy
Jean Philippe Rameau
Jean-Michel Jarre
Top writers:
Victor Hugo
Jules Verne
Alexandre Dumas
Gustave Flaubert
Emile Zola
Moliere
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Charles Baudelaire
Arthur Rimbaud
Francois Rabelais
Guy de Maupassant
Marcel Proust
Jean de La Fontaine
Top philosophers :
Voltaire
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Paul Sartre
Denis Diderot
Rene Descartes
Albert Camus
Top scientists and intellectuals:
Marie Curie
Louis Pasteur
Auguste and Louis Lumière (inventors of the cinema)
Montgolfier brothers
Jacques Cousteau
Claude Levi-Strauss
Blaise Pascal
Jean-Francois Champollion
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier
Top actors/actresses & filmmakers:
Jean Reno
Christian Clavier
Luc Besson
Louis de Funese
Jean Gabin
Bourvil
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Catherine Deneuve
Alain Delon
Francois Truffaut
Jean-Luc Godard
Top designers:
Coco Chanel
Christian Dior
Yves Saint-Laurent
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Edouard de Givenchy
Pierre Cardin
Others
Pierre de Coubertin - initiator of the modern Olympic Games
Jean Monnet - one of the founding fathers of the EEC and EU
Jacques Delors - 3x President of the European Commission
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