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Film | Art and literature | Music | Sport | Leaders and innovators | Medical | Events | Miscellany
THE mass media began life full of lists. The Gentleman's Magazine, founded in 1731, declared that its purpose was to summarise the contents of newspapers "which of late are so multiply'd, as to render it impossible to consult them all" - mostly in the form of nuggets of information.
It included lists of commodity prices, births, deaths, marriages, burials, casualties, promotions (civil, military and ecclesiastic) and lists of appointments of county sheriffs.
The lists that have proliferated for the millennium are not so factually based. But they have the same purpose: quick, bitty pieces that people can absorb easily. In addition, the millennial list brings the dimension of the subjective. Whether selected by popular opinion, or rather by those who bother to vote, or by a panel of experts, these "top tens" of the decade, the century and the millennium provoke dissent, invite ridicule and get readers talking. Comparing Wagner's
Ring Cycle to Darwin's On the Origin of Species is illogical, but it does provoke debate.
Shakespeare, the Beatles, John Lennon, Sir Winston Churchill and Johannes Gutenberg crop up on many of the lists, united for ever as they are in the canon of unquestioned greats. Lennon in particular is ubiquitous, earning plaudits for songs, lyrics and even poetry. His popularity may be a function of what has been called the "Robbie Williams effect", that is, the historical myopia of those voting, so that the former Take That star came higher than Mozart in the musicians' poll.
However, Lennon has been dead for almost 20 years and his biggest hits date from 30 years ago. It may well be that a combination of the manner of his death and the popularity of the Beatles means we are seeing the establishment of an enduring reputation.
Only the BBC Online poll provides a few surprising results and these appear to be a function of the website's popularity on the Indian sub-continent: Amitabh Bachchan is not an actor to trip off the tongue of many British film fans and Indira Gandhi's claim to be woman of the millennium ought to be tarnished by her threat to Indian democracy in the Emergency of the Seventies. Mahatma Gandhi has a much better claim to world leader status.
Some of the lists contain a kind of poetry in their juxtapositions. In the Collins Dictionary poll of words that sum up the 20th century the list is peppered with the thrusting terms of progress: television, technology, communication, computers - until it is brought up short by the word Holocaust.
Other lists are meaningless. They are a benefit for the reader, an excuse for a picture perhaps; otherwise there is no way to comprehend voting for the dog of the millennium.
FILM
Top Ten
British Films
(British Film Institute)
1 The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
2 Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
3 Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
4 The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchchock)
5 Great Expectations (1946, David Lean)
6 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, R. Hamer)
7 Kes (1969, Ken Loach)
8 Don't Look Now (1973, Nicholas Roeg)
9 The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
10 Trainspotting (1996, Danny Boyle)
Top Ten
Films
(Sky Movies Poll)
1 Star Wars (1977)
2 Titanic (1998)
3 Gone With The Wind (1939)
4 Casablanca (1942)
5 It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
6 The Godfather (1972)
7 The Sound of Music (1965)
8 Blade Runner (1982)
9 Schindler's List (1993)
10 The Full Monty (1997)
Top Ten
Greatest Stars of Stage and Screen
(BBC Online)
1 Amitabh Bachchan
2 Sir Lawrence Olivier
3 Sir Alec Guinness
4 Charlie Chaplin
5 Homer Simpson
6 Robert De Niro
7 Cary Grant
8 Buster Keaton
9 Marilyn Monroe
10 Govinda
Hitchcock's Top Ten Films
(Sight and Sound magazine)
1 Psycho
2 Vertigo
3 Notorious
4 The Birds
5 North by Northwest
6 Shadow of a Doubt
7 Foreign Correspondent
8 Frenzy
9 The Lady Vanishes
10 Marnie
Top Ten
Screen Actors
(American Film Institute)
1 Humphrey Bogart
2 Cary Grant
3 James Stewart
4 Marlon Brando
5 Fred Astaire
6 Henry Fonda
7 Clark Gable
8 Jimmy Cagney
9 Spencer Tracy
10 Charlie Chaplin
Top Ten
Screen Actresses
(American Film Institute)
1 Katharine Hepburn
2 Bette Davis
3 Audrey Hepburn
4 Ingrid Bergman
5 Greta Garbo
6 Marilyn Monroe
7 Elizabeth Taylor
8 Judy Garland
9 Marlene Dietrich
10 Joan Crawford
ART AND LITERATURE
Top Ten
Masterworks for the millennium
(Sunday Times)
1 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
2 David - Michelangelo
3 Pietà - Michelangelo
4 King Lear - William Shakespeare
5 Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo
6 On the Origin of Species - Charles Darwin
7 The King James Bible
8 The Ring Cycle - Richard Wagner
9 Ninth Symphony - Ludwig van Beethoven
10 Taj Mahal
Top Ten
Books
(Waterstones/Channel4)
1 The Lord of the Rings J. R. R.Tolkien
2 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
3 Animal Farm George Orwell
4 Ulysses James Joyce
5 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
6 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger
7 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
8 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Márquez
9 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
10 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh
Top Ten
Writers of the millennium
(BBC Online poll)
1 William Shakespeare
2 Jane Austen
3 George Orwell
4 Charles Dickens
5 Iain Banks
6 J. R. R Tolkien
7 James Joyce
8 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9 Miguel Cervantes
10 Mark Twain
Top Ten
Words that sum up the century
(Collins Dictionaries poll)
1 Television
2 Technology
3 Communication(s)
4 Computer
5 Global(isation)
6 Silicon chip
7 Holocaust
8 Automation
9 Bikini
10 Innovation(s)
Top Ten
Artists of the millennium
(BBC Online poll)
1 Leonardo Da Vinci
2 Michelangelo
3 Pablo Picasso
4 Vincent van Gogh
5 Salvador Dali
6 Jan Vermeer
7 Claude Monet
8 Rembrandt (Harmenszoon van Rijn)
9 Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio)
10 Giotto
Top Ten
Works of Journalism
(The New York University School of Journalism)
1 Hiroshima, the New Yorker 1946, by John Hersey
2 Silent Spring, book 1962, by Rachel Carson
3 Watergate investigation, The Washington Post 1972-73, by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
4 Battle of Britain, CBS Radio 1940, by Edward R Murrow
5 History of the Standard Oil Company, McClure's magazine, 1902-04, by Ida Tarbell
6 The Shame of the Cities, McClure's magazine 1902, by Lincoln Steffens
7 Ten Days that Shook the World, book 1919, by John Reed
8 The Scopes "Monkey" Trial, Baltimore Sun 1925, by H. L. Mencken
9 WWII reports, Scripps-Howard Newspapers 1940-45, by Ernie Pyle
10 Investigation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, CBS News 1954, by Edward R. Murrow & Fred Friendly
MUSIC
Top Ten
Musicals
(Footlights Magazine USA)
1 My Fair Lady - Loewe & Lerner
2 Sunday in the Park With George - Stephen Sondheim
3 Gypsy - Styne & Sondheim
4 West Side Story - Bernstein & Sondheim
5 The King And I - Rodgers & Hammerstein
6 Oklahoma! - Rodgers & Hammerstein
7 Sweeney Todd - Stephen Sondheim
8 Anything Goes - Cole Porter
9 A Chorus Line - Marvin Hamlisch
10 Guys and Dolls - Frank Loesser
Top Ten
Composers
(BBC Online poll)
1 Paul McCartney
2 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
3 Johann Sebastian Bach
4 Ludwig van Beethoven
5 John Lennon
6 Frank Zappa
7 Prince
8 Richard Wagner
9 Bob Dylan
10 Van Morrison
Top Ten
Most Performed Songs
(BMI Performing Rights Group)
1 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weil
2 Never My Love - by Donald and Richard Addrisi
3 Yesterday - John Lennon and Paul McCartney
4 Stand By Me - Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
5 Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio
6 (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding and Steve Cropper
7 Mrs Robinson - Paul Simon
8 Baby I Need Your Loving - Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland
9 Rhythm Of The Rain - John Gummoe
10 Georgia On My Mind - Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell
Britain's Favourite Song Lyrics
(BBC National Poetry Day)
1 Imagine - John Lennon
2 Angels - Robbie Williams
3 Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
4 I am the Walrus - The Beatles
5 Millennium - Robbie Williams
6 Yesterday - The Beatles
7 Beware of the Flowers - John Otway
8 Sit Down - James
9 Nights in White Satin - Moody Blues
10 Stardust - Hoagy Carmichael
Best Band of the millennium
(HMV/Channel 4/Classic FM)
1 The Beatles
2 Queen
3 Rolling Stones
4 U2
5 Oasis
6 Nirvana
7 Radiohead
8 Jackson Five
9 Manic Street Preachers
10 REM
Best Album of the millennium
(HMV/Channel 4/Classic FM)
1 Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2 Thriller - Michael Jackson
3 Revolver - The Beatles
4 Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite - Elvis Presley
5 Nevermind - Nirvana
6 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
7 (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis
8 Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
9 I've Been Expecting You - Robbie Williams
10 The Bends - Radiohead
Most Influential Musician
(HMV/Channel 4/Classic FM)
1 John Lennon
2 Elvis Presley
3 Michael Jackson
4 Jimi Hendrix
5 Sir Paul McCartney
6 Robbie Williams
7 Wolfgang Amadeu
s Mozart
8 David Bowie
9 Bob Dylkan
10 Johan Sebastian Bach
Best Songwriter
(HMV/Channel 4/Classic FM)
1 John Lennon
2 Sir Paul McCartney
3 Bob Dylan
4 Michael Jackson
5 Leiber and Stoller
6 Noel Gallagher
7 Sir Elton John
8 Robbie Williams
9 Cole Porter
10 Kurt Cobain
SPORT
Top Ten
Football Matches
(Shoot Magazine)
1 Manchester United vs Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final
2 England vs Germany in the 1966 World Cup final
3 Manchester United vs Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay
4 England vs Argentina in the 1998 World Cup second round
5 Juventus vs Manchester United in the 2nd leg of the 1999 Champions League semi-final
6 Real Madrid vs E'tracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup final
7 England vs Holland in the 1996 European Championships
8 Liverpool vs Arsenal in the 1989 Division One title decider
9 England vs Scotland in the 1996 European Championship
10 Brazil vs Italy in the 1970 World Cup final
Top Ten
Golfers
(Golf experts assembled by Associated Press)
1 Jack Nicklaus
2 Ben Hogan
3 Bobby Jones
4 Sam Snead
5 Byron Nelson
6 Arnold Palmer
7 Walter Hagen
8 Harry Vardon
9 Gary Player
10 Tom Watson
Top Ten
Male Tennis Players
(Tennis Magazine)
1 Pete Sampras
2 John McEnroe
3 Bjorn Borg
4 Jimmy Connors
5 Rod Laver
6 Roy Emerson
7 Ken Rosewall
8 Don Budge
9 Fred Perry
10 Bill Tilden
Top Ten
Female Tennis Players
(Tennis magazine)
1 Monica Seles
2 Steffi Graff
3 Martina Navratilova
4 Chris Evert
5 Billie Jean King
6 Margaret Court
7 Althea Gibson
8 Maureen Connolly
9 Helen Wills Moody
10 Suzanne Lenglen
Top Ten
Sports People
(BBC Online)
1 Muhammad Ali
2 Pele
3 Sunil Gavaskar
4 Michael Jordan
5 Sachin Tendulkar
6 Sir Don Bradman
7 Kapil Dev
8 Imran Khan
9 Jesse Owens
10 Ayrton Senna
Top Ten
Ice Hockey Players
(NHL panel of experts)
1 Wayne Gretzky
2 Gordie Howe
3 Bobby Orr
4 Maurice Richards
5 Mario Lemieux
6 Bobby Hull
7 Doug Harvey
8 Jean Beliveau
9 Terry Sawchuk
10 Ray Bourque
LEADERS AND INNOVATORS
Top Ten
World Leaders
(BBC Online poll)
1 Mahatma Gandhi
2 Winston Churchill
3 Elizabeth I
4 George Washington
5 Abraham Lincoln
6 Nelson Mandela
7 Martin Luther King
8 Franklin D. Roosevelt
9 Ronald Reagan
10 Adolf Hitler
British Personality of the millennium
(Today programme listeners' poll)
1 William Shakespeare
2 Winston Churchill
3 William Caxton
4 Charles Darwin
5 Isaac Newton
6 Oliver Cromwell
Most Influential Americans
(American Who's Who)
1 Walt Disney
2 Thomas Edison
3 Henry Ford
4 Bill Gates
5 Steve Jobs
6 Martin Luther King Jr
7 Jackie Robinson
8 Franklin D. Roosevelt
9 James Watson (partner of Crick in discovering DNA)
10 The Wright Brothers
Top Ten
Inventors
(BBC Online poll)
1 Johannes Gutenberg - printing press
2 Thomas Edison - electrical innovations
3 Leonardo Da Vinci - astronomy, hydrodynamics
4 Niccola Tesla - AC alternating current
5 Michael Faraday - electric motor, generator
6 Charles Babbage - precursor of calculator and computer
7 Alexander Graham Bell - telephone
8 John Logie Baird - TV
9 Frank Whittle - jet engine
10 Isaac Newton - law of gravitation
Top Ten
Thinkers
(BBC Online poll)
1 Karl Marx
2 Albert Einstein
3 Isaac Newton
4 Charles Darwin
5 Thomas Aquinas
6 Stephen Hawking
7 Immanuel Kant
8 René Descartes
9 James Clerk Maxwell
10 Friedrich Nietzche
Top Ten
Explorers
(BBC Online poll)
1 Christopher Columbus
2 Captain James Cook
3 Neil Armstrong
4 Marco Polo
5 Sir Ernest Shackleton
6 Ferdinand Magellan
7 Jacques Cousteau
8 Roald Amundsen
9 Sir Edmund Hillary
10 Captain Robert Scott
Top Ten
Greatest Women of the millennium
(BBC Online poll)
1 Indira Gandhi
2 Elizabeth I
3 Mother Teresa
4 Marie Curie
5 Margaret Thatcher
6 Joan of Arc
7 Emmeline Pankhurst
8 Everywoman
9 Aung San Suu Kyi
10 Eleanor Roosevelt
Top Ten
Women of the Century
(Women of the Year Award Winners)
1 Emmeline Pankhurst
2 Margaret Thatcher
3 Marie Stopes
4 The Queen
5 Florence Nightingale
6 Diana, Princess of Wales
7 Mo Mowlam
8 Mother Teresa
9 The Queen Mother
10 Dorothy Hodgkin
Best Humanitarian
(Irish Millennium Top Ten Internet site)
1 Gerry Adams
2 Mother Teresa
3 Mother Theresa (sic)
4 Diana, Princess of Wales
5 Oprah Winfrey
6 Jane Goodall
7 Jimmy Carter
8 Bono
9 Pope John Paul II
10 Jesus Christ
MEDICAL
Top Ten
Causes of Death 1900
(Dept of Nat'l Statistics)
1 Pneumonia
2 Tuberculosis
3 Diarrhoea and enteritis
4 Heart disease
5 Stroke
6 Liver disease
7 Injuries
8 Cancer
9 Senility
10 Diphtheria
Top Ten
Causes of Death 1997
(Dept of Nat'l Statistics)
1 Heart disease
2 Cancer
3 Stroke
4 Chronic lung disease
5 Accidental injury
6 Pneumonia and influenza
7 Diabetes
8 HIV infection
9 Suicide
10 Chronic liver disease
Top Ten
Public Health Achievements '97
(Centre for Disease Control and Prevention)
1 Vaccination
2 Motor vehicle safety
3 Safer workplaces
4 Control of infectious diseases
5 Fewer coronary disease and stroke deaths
6 Safer and more healthy foods
7 Healthier mothers and infants
8 Family planning
9 Fluoridation of drinking water
10 Recognition of the hazards of tobacco
EVENTS
Top Ten
News Stories
(The Newseum)
1 United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (1945)
2 Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the Moon (1969)
3 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor (1941)
4 The Wright brothers fly the first powered aeroplane (1903)
5 Women win the vote (1920)
6 President Kennedy is assassinated (1963)
7 Nazi concentration camps exposed (1945)
8 First World War begins (1914)
9 School segregation ended in America (1954)
10 US stock market crashes (1929)
Top Ten
Religious Events
(Religion and Ethic Newsweekly)
1 Christianity splits into Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic (1054)
2 The Crusades (1095)
3 The spread of Islam to most of India by the 13th century and the capture of Constantinople in 1453
4 The Gutenberg Bible made possible by the invention of the printing press which resulted in the mass distribution of religious ideas.
5 Church support of art, music and cultural life suring the Renaissance.
6 Martin Luther's 95 Theses.
7 World missionary movements that began in the 16th century.
8 The journey of English Puritans to seek religious freedom in the New World.
9 Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and its challenge to religious thinking.
10 The Holocaust.
Top Ten
Stories
(The Montreal Gazette)
1 Columbus discovers the New World.
2 Gutenberg develops the printing press.
3 Black Death devastates Europe.
4 Lenin returns to Russia in 1917.
5 Newton discovers Laws of Motion.
6 American Declaration of Independence.
7 Man walks on the Moon.
8 Start of First World War.
9 Wellington beats Napoleon at Waterloo.
10 Stanley tracks down Livingstone in Africa.
MISCELLANY
Top Ten
Construction achievements of the 20th century
(USA Today)
1 Panama Canal
2 Empire State Building
3 Channel Tunnel
4 Hoover Dam
5 Golden Gate Bridge
6 Sydney Opera House
7 World Trade Centre
8 Aswan High Dam
9 Chek Lap Kok Airport
10 Eisenhower Interstate Highways
Top Ten
Cars of the century
(American Car Club)
1 Model T Ford
2 Ford V8
3 1947 Studebaker
4 Jaguar XK120
5 1961 Lincoln Continental
6 1963 Corvette Sting Ray
7 Volkswagen Beetle
8 Datsun 240Z
9 Honda Civic
10 Lexus
Top Ten
Dogs
(Dogs Today Magazine)
1 Endal - labrador who helps his disabled owner
2 Boomer - crossbreed popular with readers
3 Lilibet - Jack Russell who suffered burns as a puppy
4 Injun - Siberian husky with blue eyes
5 Spud - Australian cattle dog who does tricks
6 Rema - a rescued whippet
7 Apache - abused collie
8 Bella - a crossbreed who is good with children
9 Alfie - a Hungarian vizsla with a big nose
10 Barney - German shepherd police dog with commendations for bravery
Top Ten
Fashion influences of the Century
(Kansas City Star
1 Madeleine Vionnet - developed draped silhouette that freed women from corsets
2 Coco Chanel - simple couture like the little black dress.
3 Frances Courrèges - set stage for 60s with A-line mini dress
4 Claire McCardell - mother of modern sportswear
5 Christian Dior - for his hourglass New Look of 1946
6 Yves Saint Laurent - took fashion from the streets
7 Jacqueline Kennedy - tea suits and pillbox hat
8 Halston Frowick - for 70s-style nonchalant elegance
9 Calvin Klein - for mastering marketing with sex
10 The Gap - for appealing to the rich and the masses
Top Ten
Funniest People
(BBC Online poll)
1 Spike Milligan
2 John Cleese
3 Billy Connolly
4 Charlie Chaplin
5 Rowan Atkinson
6 Peter Cook
7 Laurel and Hardy
8 Peter Sellers
9 Lucille Ball
10 Eric Morecambe
Greatest investors of the Century
(The Carson Consulting Group)
1 Warren Buffet
2 Peter Lynch
3 John Templeton
4 Benjamin Graham
5 David Dodd
6 George Soros
7 John Bogle
8 Michael Price
9 Julian Robertson
10 Mark Mobius
Top Ten
British Buildings
(Buildings of the Century poll)
1 Coventry Cathedral
2 Liverpool Cathedral
3 De la Warr Pavilion
4 Tate Gallery, St Ives
5 Royal Festival Hall
6 British Library
7 Castle Drogo
8 Lloyd's Building
9 Hoover Building
10 Battersea Power Station
Most influential designers
(Design Week)
1 Peter Behrens (1869-1940)
2 Marcel Brever (1902-81)
3 Harvey Earl (1893-1969)
4 Henry Dreyfuss (1904 - 72)
5 Paul Rand (1914 - 1996)
6 Florence Knoll (1917 - )
7 Arnie Jacobsen (1902 - 71)
8 Ehore Stark (1917 -)
9 Philippe Starck (1949 - )
10 Lord Foster (1935 - )
Most important babies
(The BabyCenter)
1 James Hathaway - founder of the family centred birth movement
2 John F Kennedy Jnr
3 Baby Fae - baboon heart recipient
4 Louise Brown - first test tube baby
5 Ricky Ricardo
6 Ann Turner-Cook
7 Charles Lindbergh Jr
8 Avery Brown - icon for single mothers
9 First Montessori student
10 China's billionth baby
Most popular toy
(British Association of Toy Retailers)
1 The teddy bear
2 Beanie Babies
3 Monopoly
4 Scrabble
5 Lego
6 Action Man
7 Mastermind
8 Yo-Yo
9 Trivial Pursuit
10 Barbie doll
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