Just looked this up. According to some Dutchman's blog, they started
with a list of 100 and then reduced it to ten by viewers voting. The
top ten, from whom the 'greatest ever Dutchman' was chosen were:
Cruijff, Johan - renowed football player;
Drees, Willem - Dutch prime-minister, "vadertje Drees" (father Drees),
helped the Netherlands to rebuild again after the Second World War;
Erasmus, Desiderius - great humanist;
Fortuyn, Pim - murdered politician, caused a huge shift in Dutch politics;
Frank, Anne - famous Jewish girl who wrote a world-famous diary;
Gogh, Vincent van - world-famous painter;
Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van - famous scientist, developer of the microscope;
Orange, William I of - a really "vader des vaderlands" (pater patriae);
Rijn, Rembrandt van - world-famous painter;
Ruyter, Michiel Adriaenszoon de - great Dutch commander and sailor,
presumably saved the Netherlands from a certain Spanish re-occupation.
I suspect Pim Fortuyn benefited from the outrage at Theo van Gogh's
murder. It would be a bit hard to sustain the case that he was
'greater' than Rembrandt, William of Orange or Admiral de Ruyter.
Steve
Well the people chose did they not?
Foreigners are notoriously odd, particularly after they've had too much
'skunk'.
Steve
OI GLYNN, NOOOOO!!!
You can't say that about foreigners Steve, no no absolutely not.
Saying anything about anyone thats not 100% white English protestant,
could be construed, regardless of however tenuous or factual, as the
first step towards a liking for jackboots and a penchant for jew
gassing!!
Nasty smell of xenophobia Steve. You could find your self in prison under EU
laws before long. You will be saying next you don't want these 'inferior'
foreigners in Britain.