Next Up: Favorite Historical Figures

[Boudicca]

Okay, this question occured to me while sitting outside watching the koi swim around our big pond.  Very Zen, were it not for the four barking doggies.

Who are your two favorite historical figures, one male, one female?  The qualifiers are thus:  these must be people only, no Jesus (because he was part man, part god when he was on earth at least) and no Zeus or Spiderman.  And these people can't be family members, deceased or not.
Oh, yeah, and these choices have to be deceased, that is what I think would make them historical.  I hope these are not too strict parameters.

My favorite female historical figure is Boudicca.  Whoda thunk it?
And my favorite male historical figure is Alexander the Great.  His story has always given me chills and thrills-a man, boy really, who sets out to conquer the world and halfway achieves it.  And while his followers considered him to be a god, he most definitely never was, and he really lived (unlike say Zeus).

[Eupher]

Oh, I dunno.....

Probably Winston Churchill, mostly because he was an exceptional historian, first-rate motivator, and world-class ass-kicker.

Probably Abram's wife Sarai, who got pregnant at an advanced age of 90+. She was one fine lookin' babe!  

[Boudicca]

Probably Abram's wife Sarai, who got pregnant at an advanced age of 90+. She was one fine lookin' babe!  
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[Karin]

I admire the pure American spirit of the founder of my town, General Jacob Brown.  Life wasn't going too well in Pennsylvania in the late 1700's, so he said basically, "It's a big country out there, let's see what's in it.  Let's go North!"   So off some of them went, on nothing but faith that God put them there for a reason.  They happened upon this place after some wandering, he saw the waterfall and saw a power source in that, along with a river for transport, and that was that. 

They built some log cabins, and Brown used his to double up as the local tavern.  Eventually a town was built, complete with industry for jobs.  Stone mansions were built.  The town holds a festival in his honor every year.  He was a war hero in the War of 1812. 

(P.S.  No wonder kids hate history.  I've read a lot about this guy, and he was quite the character, and also of spotless honor.  Even jokes he told have been recorded.  You go to look him up on Wiki, and the biography is dry as dust.  Yawn.) 

[soleil]

I am going to go with Joan of Arc and Abraham Lincoln

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Winston Churchill

Scipio Africanus

[chitownchica]

I've always admired Abraham Lincoln, although I mainly know the famous things about him.  I mentioned in another thread that I'm reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I've only read the intro and the first couple of pages of chapter one, so I can't give any rec yet.  The book includes information on his rivals from both the Republican and Democratic parties, and how he took quite a few of them and made them part of his administration.  Goodwin has included first account info from diaries, personal letters, etc. from these various characters.

I'll have to think about a woman. I read a bio a long time ago on Dolly Madison. Seems like she was pretty interesting, but I don't remember that much.  I also really like the story of Esther in the Old Testament, even though I don't know more than what I've read in the bible, in a few stories, and online bios.

I have always liked history, but honestly didn't pay that much attention (beyond getting grades) in HS and college. There are a lot of things about our nation's history that I either don't remember or never learned. Sad, really, but I'm going to change that. I've decided to focus on our founding documents and recommended books on our history.  I can't wait to learn more.

[cavegal]

Winston Churchill... Margarette Thatcher.

[franksolich]

Since the question is "favorite" rather than "most important" historical figures, I'm going with Charles de Gaulle and Clare Boothe Luce.

[Chris_]

James Cook and George Washington.

Honorable mention: Ferdinand Porsche

[Mike220]

Julius Caesar
Maimonides
Sam Houston

[Hawkgirl]

Galileo
Albert Einstein

Harriet Tubman
Madam CJ Walker- from a family of slaves to a millionaire entrepenuer.

[Duke Nukum]

Ludwig von Beethoven.

Hypatia.

[Boudicca]

Thanks for responding, everyone.  Youall have some interesting choices.

[IassaFTots]

Winston Churchill


Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Thor]

General Patton......

I don't have an historical female figure, yet

[vesta111]

Johnnie Appleseed.

Every kid ,back when ,was taught that he  traveled about the country with pockets of apple seeds and planted them.  I believe his name was John Chapmen for some reason.

Then there was the wife of Davie Crockett, and the wife of the last British Governor to New Hampshire who was said to have poisoned her husband so she could marry Governor Wentworth.  BTW--their home is STILL standing as part of a nursing home I worked in, the original wall paper she had hung is still there as are the bullet holes over the fireplace mantel and the hoof prints from the horses that carried the rebels into the home to kill them.

Can't forget John Brown or John Paul Jones whose home in this area is a Museum now.

I believe if I could conjour up from the dead to speak with them my first person would be a woman with a diamond in her tooth that operated a brothel for the upper class men  of this town. Her home is part of the towns history.  The storeys she could tell would turn this areas history upside down.

[Chris_]

Churchill
Marx (Groucho that is)
Reagan

[mamacags]

Nikola Tesla

Joan of Arc


I have a thing for nutjob visionaries.