Elizabethans

[poliphilo]

So, how many of the original Elizabethans still matter to us? Well, there's Shakespeare and- erm- well- after that it gets tricky. A few playwrights and poets, an adventurer or two, a couple of composers, Dr John Dee, Francis Bacon. But it would be really difficult to come up with 60 names. In fact 20 would be pushing it. Most kinds of fame are transitory. Will any of the 60 new Elizabethans being feted on Radio 4 still be household names in another 400 years? 

Here's the list

I'll venture a guess that the well-informed person in 2412 might be expected to have heard of Hitchcock, Britten, Larkin, Lennon and McCartney, Bacon and Hockney- and that's it.

Comments

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

I'd add Bowie and Dahl to the "New Elizabethan" list, but Enoch Powell? Good god, no. He's best forgotten.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I hesitated over those two.

Most politicians are soon forgotten. Powell's continuing notoriety rests on one ill-judged speech. I guess he'll be remembered for as long as "race" remains an issue in this country.

For some reason the compilers of the list chose to include a number of rogues and vagabonds- hence the inclusion of Fred Goodwin and (arguably) Powell.