View Full Version : People who never knew that they became historical figures
Excape Goat
03 Feb 2006, 07:54 AM
Anne Frank
Vincent Van Gogh(I guessed most artists belong in this list)
The Communist dude executed by the Vietnamese police office(the famous photo)
taosjohn
03 Feb 2006, 10:04 AM
Anne Frank
Vincent Van Gogh(I guessed most artists belong in this list)
The Communist dude executed by the Vietnamese police office(the famous photo)
Simon the Cyrene
Guy Fawkes?
Tom Paine?
Homer?
Toon³
03 Feb 2006, 12:09 PM
Homer?
Simpson?
yasik19
03 Feb 2006, 01:04 PM
Simpson?
O.J.?
Toon³
03 Feb 2006, 01:54 PM
O.J.?
Tropicana?
taosjohn
03 Feb 2006, 10:30 PM
Tropicana?
The field or the ballroom?
MRod
03 Feb 2006, 10:41 PM
Tropicana?
Chiquita Banana?
YankHibee
04 Feb 2006, 11:18 AM
Simon the Cyrene
Guy Fawkes?
Tom Paine?
Homer?
Paine was pretty important during his life. I think he would be pretty surprised by how many people still know his name though.
Homer might not have been a person, but rather a school or a class of poets.
Guy Fawkes would probably be amazed that there is a Guy Fawkes day 400 years later, but if you plot against the crown, you're probably going to make some waves.
CrewDust
04 Feb 2006, 03:54 PM
Tropicana?
The casino?
taosjohn
04 Feb 2006, 10:53 PM
Paine was pretty important during his life. I think he would be pretty surprised by how many people still know his name though.
Homer might not have been a person, but rather a school or a class of poets.
Guy Fawkes would probably be amazed that there is a Guy Fawkes day 400 years later, but if you plot against the crown, you're probably going to make some waves.
Hence the question marks in my post... Paine, I was reasoning may have thought himself forgotten by the time he died; I believe without being competent to defend the belief that there was a Homer, but have no reason to think he saw himself as important beyond the rooms he was in; and I'm told its unclear that Fawkes was a reasoning being at all...
The thing is, to become an answer to the question you kinda have to have done something important but not been in a position to know it was important. Which would mean that you died before the world became aware of its significance-- Van Gogh, Simon Cyrene-- or that you were able to do something that mattered without being bright enough to understand what happened-- Fawkes?
All the cases of "Died in the act of getting famous" I could think of -- Lawrence, Travis-- surely knew they were doing something memorable.
It is far easier to name folks who are not famous but did something terribly inportant-- Joshua Humphreys and BF Isherwood are, for example, very very important figures in US history but only buffs in their narrow field are aware of them...
Toon³
05 Feb 2006, 01:39 AM
The casino?
Sam 'Ace' Rothstein?
poorvi
08 Feb 2006, 04:31 PM
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Nelson Mandela
Simon Wiesenthal
Rajiv Gandhi
Andreas Escobar
Excape Goat
08 Feb 2006, 05:22 PM
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Nelson Mandela
Simon Wiesenthal
Rajiv Gandhi
Andreas Escobar
Franz Ferdinand, Mandela, Wiesenthal and Rajiv Gandhi belonged nowhere on the list. Franz Ferdinand was a prince who was set to become the king of large empire. Mandela was famous even before he left the prison and alive people should not be on the list since if we knew who he was and then he must be part of history. Wiesenthal has centre named after him before he died. Rajiv Gandhi was a prime minister before he was killed.
Escober was public figure, but perhaps wont be even a footnote in soccer history if he did not die on that night.
BenReilly
08 Feb 2006, 05:25 PM
And the winner is: Yehoshua ben Yosef
poorvi
08 Feb 2006, 05:35 PM
Franz Ferdinand, Mandela, Wiesenthal and Rajiv Gandhi belonged nowhere on the list. Franz Ferdinand was a prince who was set to become the king of large empire. Mandela was famous even before he left the prison and alive people should not be on the list since if we knew who he was and then he must be part of history. Wiesenthal has centre named after him before he died. Rajiv Gandhi was a prime minister before he was killed.
Escober was public figure, but perhaps wont be even a footnote in soccer history if he did not die on that night.
I guess I should have explained
The archduke Franz Ferdinand is in our minds just becuase his assasination sparked off WWI. He would have been just another central European prince had that not happened. Thats why I included him in the list.
Rajiv Gandhi was never supposed to enter politics. It was his brother Sanjay Gandhi's untimely death which caused Rajiv Gandhi to take the plunge into politics.
On Mandela I agree with your thinking.
taosjohn
08 Feb 2006, 11:15 PM
And the winner is: Yehoshua ben Yosef
Depends-- a lot of folks figure he knew exactly what he was, and therefore how it came out...
taosjohn
08 Feb 2006, 11:17 PM
How about Sacajawea?
Excape Goat
09 Feb 2006, 06:53 AM
Rajiv Gandhi was never supposed to enter politics. It was his brother Sanjay Gandhi's untimely death which caused Rajiv Gandhi to take the plunge into politics.
Still Rajiv Gandhi died being the prime minister of one of the largest country in the world. May be his wife Sophie belonged to the list, not Rajiv. Of course, she is still alive and she knows who she is not an ordinary folks.
Franz Ferdinand was more than a prince. He was the last heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. He would become Emperior Franz Ferdinand. His reign would have marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire with or without WW II. He would be part of history and he probably knew it too.
Real Ray
09 Feb 2006, 10:32 AM
Crispus Attucks
taosjohn
09 Feb 2006, 10:41 AM
Crispus Attucks
Just thought of him myself, came here to post him and found yours... but does anyone but us know who he was?
Do we think Fulton had any idea he'd be remembered? Or Watt?