Faces of the Century: A Personal Choice

One of the most popular ways of celebrating the end of the century and the millennium has been to publish what a group of people consider to be the top ten, five, three and – ultimately – one, greatest names of writers, philosophers, scientists, books, plays, inventions, pieces of music or whatever they have been asked to identify. Similar exercises of a kind that the media like were not unknown a hundred years ago, and it has now been extended by poll to any one who cares to respond. There have even been lobbies. The exercise has something in common with being asked what items to put inside a time capsule. It is, indeed, a time game, with fewer surprises than there are when Time magazine proclaims what used to be called its ‘Man of the Year’ and shows him – or now often her – on its front cover.