tonyh29 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 4 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: Wiltold Pilecki A Polish resistance fighter in WW2. He allowed himself to be captured and sent to a concentration camp. Using smuggled radio parts to build a radio he reported what he saw and named those responsible. He managed to escape and went back to fighting with the Polish resistance. Reading his story , he was one incredibly brave man .... later arrested and tortured by the communists in Poland and executed I suspect he's widely known in Poland tbf , just the rest of the world where he isn't ..bit like someone like Douglas Bader is probably only famous / significant in the UK ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted January 17 VT Supporter Share Posted January 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Spoony Posted January 17 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 17 Titled changed. Unlike Chris Heck, I listen to the Villa fans. I am tempted to add a star to the title. 3 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I think the thread title is wrong, should be ‘arguably’ not ‘arguable’. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) The Brummy Button Salesman at Waterloo. This is someone who is well documented in history but I think is still unidentified. During the heat of the battle Wellington spotted a crucial problem in his formation. He turned to his last remaining messenger who immediately took a bullet. Wellington spotted a civilian on a horse nearby. He called him over. The man presented Wellington with a business card. He was a button salesman from a Birmingham firm. Wellington asked him to take a message for him. The man took the message, delivered it and was never seen again. Edited January 17 by Mandy Lifeboats Spelling mishsteaks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Doesn't chaos theory suggest that the biggest events are caused by insignificant events we are not aware of and cannot be identified? The thread should probably be called - Who should be a lot more famous than they are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Spoony Posted January 17 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 17 4 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said: Doesn't chaos theory suggest that the biggest events are caused by insignificant events we are not aware of and cannot be identified? The thread should probably be called - Who should be a lot more famous than they are? We have already had one consultation on this and a new title implemented. We will wait and see what the reaction is to the new title before embarking on another consultation process. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I think the title thread is wrong. The people listed have not necessarily done significant things. Some have done inignificant things that have had significant results. For example - Stanislav Petrov What he didn't do prevented a significant event. You're welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 44 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: The Brummy Button Salesman at Waterloo. This is someone who is well documented in history but I think is still unidentified. During the heat of the battle Wellington spotted a crucial problem in his formation. He turned to his last remaining messenger who immediately took a bullet. Wellington spotted a civilian on a horse nearby. He called him over. The man presented Wellington with a business card. He was a button salesman from a Birmingham firm. Wellington asked him to take a message for him. The man took the message, delivered it and was never seen again. I just looked this up again. The salesman was from a firm in the Jewellery Quarter called "Blinks & Blinks" Has anyone heard of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 36 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: The Brummy Button Salesman at Waterloo. This is someone who is well documented in history but I think is still unidentified. During the heat of the battle Wellington spotted a crucial problem in his formation. He turned to his last remaining messenger who immediately took a bullet. Wellington spotted a civilian on a horse nearby. He called him over. The man presented Wellington with a business card. He was a button salesman from a Birmingham firm. Wellington asked him to take a message for him. The man took the message, delivered it and was never seen again. the source of this tale seems to be Benjamin Robert Haydon , who heard it from John Carew ( not THE John Carew) But every now and then he saw the Cob-man riding about in the smoke, and at last having nobody to send to a regiment, he again beckoned to this little fellow, and told him to go up to that regiment and order them to charge, giving him some mark of authority the colonel would recognise. Away he galloped, and in a few minutes the Duke saw his order obeyed. The Duke asked him for his card, and found in the evening, when the card fell out of his sash, that he lived at Birmingham, and was a button manufacturer! When at Birmingham the Duke inquired of the firm and found he was their traveller, and then in Ireland. When he returned, at the Duke’s request he called on him in London. The Duke was happy to see him and said he had a vacancy in the Mint of 800l a-year, where accounts were wanted. The little Cob-man said it would be exactly the thing and the Duke installed him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 18 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: I think the title thread is wrong. The people listed have not necessarily done significant things. Some have done inignificant things that have had significant results. For example - Stanislav Petrov What he didn't do prevented a significant event. You're welcome. Doesn’t the significant result make the act or omission itself significant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted January 17 VT Supporter Share Posted January 17 Emmy Noether - one of the most important mathematicians/physicists of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Rosalind Franklin, a chemist who did plenty of work to discover structure of DNA, but went largely unrecognised for her work. See also: The women whom science forgot - BBC News 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 No blue 0/10 wnb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 54 minutes ago, Spoony said: Doesn’t the significant result make the act or omission itself significant? 1. Is a failure to do something an action or a lack of action. 2. I was only joking. 3. I am an ex- civil servant. In the service a conscious decision to do nothing is referred to as "proactive non-intervention". This distinguishes it from truly doing nothing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 17 VT Supporter Share Posted January 17 Perhaps we should have a corresponding thread? Insignificant People Who Are Well Known (But Shouldn't Be). I'd start with Rylan. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colhint Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) Anyone on these opportunity knocks type programmes. And who's Rylan? Edited January 17 by colhint 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 17 Moderator Share Posted January 17 26 minutes ago, colhint said: Anyone on these opportunity knocks type programmes. And who's Rylan? I think he's that bloke that stole Freddie Mercury's teeth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hogso Posted January 17 Popular Post Share Posted January 17 There was this bloke right, who could chuck a ball dead far. A football team signed him up and invented a whole new set piece called a long throw. Some people didn't like it cos it was a bit like cheating. His name was 'Rory Delap'. Absolutely mad, look it up if you don't believe me. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 17 Moderator Share Posted January 17 Right so this kinda fits in here I think. John Alexander Brodie, he was a civil engineer who led the design team of the first Mersey tunnel (and other local engineering projects). Now that fact alone gets him a blue plaque outside the house he used to live in. Many years later around 1987 I too lived in that house but that is by the by but it is how I came to learn this little factoid The Mersey Tunnel has obviously affected millions upon millions of peoples lives over the years in a positive way and that is what he's famous for, there's even a road named after him yards from my flat. This lesser known fact has had a positive effect on many more people over time and is supposedly the achievement he was most proud of. He was an amateur football referee... Spoiler ...he invented the goal net Makes you wonder why he's most famous for that other thing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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