[JammyChoos]

Elvis - I think he was more famous for his clothes/hair than his music (which is not even that great anyway).

William Shakespeare - He was good but definetly over exaggerrated.

Leonardo da Vinci - I've seen better paintings and Im sure Dan Browns 'da vinci code' was the main reason for the hype

Sigmund Freud - His ideas are amazing contributions to psychology but why do people assume he is the ONLY psychologist/psychiatrist.

[internet tough guy]

(Original post by soempty)
John F Kennedy. Been president for relative short time, was involved in a big crisis solution of which wasn't his own victory at all. Failed at Cuba invasion which is forgotten. However he is one of the most known modern American presidents.

This.

As sad as it sounds, the best thing that happened to him was dying early. If he been around longer, his presidency would've almost certainly suffered the same tarnished fate as just about every U.S president, not to mention as well the Vietnam **** puddle that America was increasingly getting dragged into. So instead of Lyndon Johnson, he would've been the fall guy for the deaths of 1000s of U.S soldiers in Vietnam along with all the political mess that came with that. Had he not died so early, I doubt we would've seen airports and space-centers named after him.

[Jeester]

Elizibeth II (Current Queen)

WAKE UP PEOPLE! SHE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!

[James10000]

Americans

[Awesomeosaurus]

(Original post by miser)
One that springs to mind is Thomas Edison. The reasons are pretty well summed up by The Oatmeal: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Best thing I ever read at 1am
thank you

[BKAllison]

I would never say Leonardo di Vinci he contributed a lot in a varying amount of fields. But then again you could say every famous scientist on record! If we could truly seen their lives it would be a different story! Newton was a horrible man and stole some of his idea (I am led to believe).

A lot of scientists were dangerous and ruthless and damn right crazy!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-N7000

[badumdumtscht]

(Original post by ArcadiaHouse)
Interesting question.

Hmmm ... JK Rowling. Reason: she basically nicked a lot of Greek mythology, shoved it all into a boarding school setting and is a pretty poor writer.

But Hogwarts. D:

And personally JFK because he was a whore-monger (and he made me drink my tears tonight *HOOKKAAHH*)

[badumdumtscht]

(Original post by BKAllison)
I would never say Leonardo di Vinci he contributed a lot in a varying amount of fields. But then again you could say every famous scientist on record! If we could truly seen their lives it would be a different story! Newton was a horrible man and stole some of his idea (I am led to believe).

A lot of scientists were dangerous and ruthless and damn right crazy!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-N7000

Oh science is full of that, just like the arts. Watson and Crick, who "discovered" DNA, basically ripped off Rosliand Franklin's x-ray projections of DNA's 3D configuration.

Bastards.

[RichyFrench]

(Original post by JammyChoos)
Elvis - I think he was more famous for his clothes/hair than his music (which is not even that great anyway).

William Shakespeare - He was good but definetly over exaggerrated.

Leonardo da Vinci - I've seen better paintings and Im sure Dan Browns 'da vinci code' was the main reason for the hype

Sigmund Freud - His ideas are amazing contributions to psychology but why do people assume he is the ONLY psychologist/psychiatrist.

Don't know much about the rest, but Sigmund Freud was a genius. He came up with the 'talking cure' which has literally become the foundation for modern-day psychiatry!

[green.tea]

(Original post by ArcadiaHouse)
Interesting question.

Hmmm ... JK Rowling. Reason: she basically nicked a lot of Greek mythology, shoved it all into a boarding school setting and is a pretty poor writer.

Nicked a lot from the worst witch books too. Pisses me off that nobody under 25 knows this.

[BKAllison]

That's not the first time I've heard the Watson and crick discovery being stolen from someone else!

But then again they are credited for it regardless of the controversy! If science was all fair then there wouldn't be any fun in it!

Most scientist were drinking absinthe and taking coke to aid there thought process! Talk about hardcore sessioners haha!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-N7000

[math1234]

Gandhi


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[T-Toe]

Emma Watson.

[Am.K]

Alexander Fleming. People always credit him for discovering penicillin but he discovered it by accident and didn't even do anything at that time. And it was actually Florey and Chain who developed it. And today in science, Fleming gets all the credit and it pisses me off


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[green.tea]

astonished nobody has said wayne rooney

[Goody2Shoes-x]

(Original post by Mrkingpenguin)
Henry VIII. He was voted as one of the top 10 Britons ever in recent polls and to be honest I think if people really studied him they would change their mind.



Most underated...: Henry VII, possibly the best King England's ever had.

Although I would certainly not class him as one of the top ten Britons (that statistic worries me a LOT) I do think Henry VIII's reign is fascinating - not just him, but the whole Tudor period really. So much change occured then and IMO it's all mega interesting. I can understand if people are sick of it though, in History in school all we ever got shoved down our necks was "Divorced-beheaded-died, divorced-beheaded-survived."

[jumpingjesusholycow]

(Original post by Frankster)
Overrated: Obama

Underrated: Isambard Brunel.

Really? I think his inventions and discoveries are appropriately attributed to him. It might be a bit of a 'Tesla situation', but I think if he were any more renowned than he already is, you would have placed him in the former category.

(Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey)
Ghandi.

I can already see what you're getting at by mentioning him, and I partially agree.

I would say that it's only his placement as the 'beacon of spiritual nirvana' by Westerners that causes him to be over-rated.

For his part in lifting an otherwise spineless colony of the British empire into a rebel subcontinent that eventually lead to the liberation of countless millions, he is rightly honoured.

(Original post by rural_boy)
Also, the thing about Dresden is absolute bull****, it was a legitimate target the Germans felt the same about London during the Blitz...

Wow. You don't think our moral standard should be even a little bit higher than Nazi Germany? :/

[ak137]

(Original post by Suetonius)
Winston Churchill. WWII, and his oratory, was a lucky break after the calamity at Gallipoli. He was also a hardcore supporter of British imperialism, vehemently backed our Nazi-sympathizing king, Edward VIII, and committed one of history's most severe war crimes by vaporizing Dresden.

All those things you've mentioned, although correct, are supported by people like you.

And you forgot he was also a racist.

[jumpingjesusholycow]

Okay, I'm done responding to other people :P

I don't know about most over-rated of all time, but generally speaking every time I hear 'over rated' I think of Stephen Fry. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad guy by any means, but people laud him about like he's the saviour of our collective international image. He's just a smart bloke, that's it, and he has some pretty big flaws, including positively scraping his tongue over the proverbial arse hole of any American he may come into contact with.

[tufc]

Che Guevara. Just a stupid revolutionary who got shot, and now he seems to have canonical status amongst immature teenagers.