In November 2011, the British public voted to find the Greatest Briton of all time. Over a million people voted.

Here are the results:

1. Sir Winston Churchill 
   Winston Churchill was a politician, a soldier, an artist, and the 20th century’s most famous and celebrated Prime Minister.
2. Diana, Princess of Wales 
   From the time of her marriage to the Prince of Wales in 1981 until her death in a car accident in Paris in 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales was one of the world’s most high-profile, most photographed, and most iconic celebrities.
3. Charles Darwin 
   Charles Darwin was a British naturalist of the nineteenth century. He and others developed the theory of evolution. This theory forms the basis for the modern life sciences. Darwin’s most famous books are ‘The Origin of Species’ and ‘The Descent of Man’.
4. William Shakespeare 
   William Shakespeare was a playwright and poet whose body of works is considered the greatest in English literature. He wrote dozens of plays which continue to dominate world theater 400 years later.
5. Sir Isaac Newton 
   Isaac Newton was a mathematician and scientist who invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion.
6. Queen Elizabeth I 
   The daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth 1 reigned England from 1558–1603. Her reign was marked by several plots to overthrow her, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots (1587), the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), and domestic prosperity and literary achievement.
7. John Lennon 
   John Lennon was a musician and composer who was a member of the Beatles, the biggest rock band of the 1960s.
8. Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher 
   Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom’s first woman prime minister, and she held the office of PM for longer than anyone in the 20th century.
9. Queen Victoria 
   Victoria’s nearly 64-year reign was the longest in British history.
10. Sir Paul McCartney 
    McCartney was a singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Beatles, the biggest rock band of the 1960s.  
11. Queen Elizabeth II 
    Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary), is the Queen regnant and Head of State of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and fifteen other Commonwealth countries.
12. David Beckham 
    Beckham is a leading English footballer and a former star of the legendary team Manchester United.