h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In terms of the number of people who know the name..

I'd be inclined to say Pele - do more than half of the 5.25 Billion of us know who he is/was?

I would think some religious figure. Like Jesus, Moses or Abraham.

Or Mohammed. He's quite famous. Or Krishna.

The Queen's got pretty good coverage - tribes in the backend of nowhere, living in mud huts with 300 miles to the next standpipe and a picture of her on every wall. Sad but true.

Mao. Stalin. Marx. Wether pro- or anti - there's been indoctrination arround the globe on these boys.

The Beatles - they did pretty well in the publicity wars.

Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, Mr Benn.

"The Queen's got pretty good coverage - tribes in the backend of nowhere, living in mud huts with 300 miles to the next standpipe and a picture of her on every wall. Sad but true."

I don't know about elsewhere in the world, but I don't think most people in the US would recognize a picture of the Queen (although most would recognize Princess Diana). I'd even hazard to guess that rather a large chunk of them wouldn't be able to state her name if asked.

Mikey

Hitler. Sadly. Not a week goes by without some revelatory new documentary on him and the Nazis on telly.

Ste

Harry Potter

The Pope too of course.

How famous is Guru Nanak?

I was about to say Hitler, then found that Ste has done it for me. People who do horrendous things are not soon forgotten. And maybe it's not unfortunate that he is as well known as he is, less we (humanity) make the same mistake again.

Chairman Mao?

currently? George W Bush or Osama bin Laden probably...
in all time - probably Jesus Christ...

I don't think so. Remember, there are a lot of children in this world, and I know I didn't know who Chairman Mao was until I was doing long devision.

There are many:

Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Julius Caesar, Queen Victoria, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, John Lennon, Mohammed Ali, The Pope, Arnold Schwarzennegger, Lenin, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra. The list goes on...............

Obviously Mohammed is the founder of Islam so known by all muslims. Jesus is the founder of Christianity and so known by all christians. Moses is possibly the most famous Jew and so known by all Jews. However all three religions share a common root in Abraham, so I suspect that he is pretty much the best known religious figure.

The most famous political figure is probably either the current leader of China or Chairman Mao. After all, China is by far the worlds largest nation with 1/5 of the worlds population.

As much as I'd like it, how many know who Yuri Gagarin or Armstrong are? Even in our part of the world?

I'd probably say Jesus Christ as well, thanks to the damned missionaires.

Considering the percentage of orientals in the world population, these lists are very occidental in their bias.

The Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama must come top of the list.

Alji

OK - narrow it down...Most world famous English person?
I have a three way tie between the Queen, Micheal Owen and Elton John maybe?

The most world famous American?
Probably Mohammed Ali or George Washington

I believe John Lennon at least reckoned that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ.

As far as the most famous American is concerned, Abraham Lincoln has got to be up there with George Washington. And some film stars would probably come close, or even beat them both. After all, more people watch films than read history books. And I have one book on the history of America that reckons that, in the comparatively recent past, American children learned more about the history of Europe than they did about the history of their own country. I don't know if that's still true, though.

What about God ????

God isn't human...

Madonna?