What is England's greatest contribution to civilization? Plantagenet royals, Shakespeare, Bacon, John Lennon?

Question

Poets, statesmen, rock bands, Industrial Revolution, gin, Wellington, Churchill, Blair, etc...

Answer 1

shakespeare of course and its rich culture

Answer 2

In my humble opinion it is....the perfection and purification of rock and roll....all the greatest rock bands come from England.
The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, The Who among many, many others. Even Jimi Hendrix crafted and perfected his art while in the UK. This all came about from the British youth of the early 1960s being fascinated with American blues music and black culture. Have you ever heard the saying "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll"? These young and upcoming rockers were all immersed in the blues. And in my opinion consequently took rock and roll to it's highest peaks. So without a doubt England's greatest contribution has been ROCK.

Answer 3

Well, England kind of set up the modern world since the industrial revolution began there (most historians agree). But also their military and colonial rule kind of laid out the plans for the modern world (including wars however).

But their form of government is the most copied and influential in the world today (Parliamentary system)

Also, people like Shakesepeare have influenced modern literature and guys like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke heavily influenced the Enlightenment which led to things like the American War of Independence and the French Revolution.

Answer 4

I think England's greatest contribution to civilisation has been their tolerance towards each other and desire to treat all people well.Of course I'm not saying this has always been successful. Sometimes when you bend over backwards to accommodate people they take advantage and push for more and more. (I believe that this is happenning now in Britain with more and more people arriving to take advantage of the social security system and then bad-mouthing the locals and trying to destroy their culture.) Sad but I hope some of the contributions will continue elsewhere in the world when England's gone. (Particularly the fact that people are taught to think for themselves. That's the best of all I guess, because then there will always be new and exciting things thought up. (unless "dumbing down" gets to them too!)

Answer 5

Isaac Newton as well as the other original members of the Royal Society who realized that with logic and experimentation, people could learn enough about the natural world to make dramatic improvements in so many areas of life.

Answer 6

English.

Answer 7

John Keats

Answer 8

Shakespeare, Bacon, Newton, Madonna(ooops) :-)

Answer 9

Industrial revolution.

Answer 10

That has to be Shakespeare. His plays have influenced art and society so much. To paraphrase something said from one of his contemporaries, "he is for all ages," meaning that his plays can be applicable to almost any situation or time period.

Answer 11

My great uncle Moriarty Dungle. He owned a fish and chip shop in Blackpool, Lancashire, and he was the first one to come up with the idea of 'chip butties'.