Wallace leads Scots hero vote

Published on Sunday 15 January 2006 00:18

ROBERT Burns was the modern-day historians' choice, but William Wallace is leading the race to become the Greatest Ever Scot among Scotland on Sunday readers.

An online poll in the last week has seen the victor of the Battle of Stirling Bridge take more than a third (36%) of the votes, pushing Burns, on 25%, into second place.

Robert the Bruce is lying in third place with readers' votes, on 10.6%.

Wallace and Burns, the warriors whose battles led to Scottish independence, have a clear lead on the thinkers and scientists who received the plaudits of academics.

Adam Smith, the economist praised as the father of capitalism for his Wealth of Nations, and David Hume, his contemporary in the Scottish Enlightenment, have polled 6.1% and 4.9% respectively. David Livingstone, the Lanarkshire-born missionary and explorer, managed to secure six votes from the judges panel. However, he is lagging behind, according to our readers, gaining just 1.6% of the vote, which continues online this week.

One of the judges, Professor Tom Devine, said: "I am not at all surprised that Wallace appears the choice of the public. It is the Braveheartism effect."

The other panel nominations were James VI and I, Sir Walter Scott, Alexander Fleming and Andrew Carnegie. No woman secured enough votes to make it on to the 10-strong shortlist.

Three readers who take part in our vote, whether by clicking on the panel's Top 10 or by e-mail to make their own nomination, will win a set of books by historian James Hunter, courtesy of Mainstream Publishing.