Folk Heroes
- Thread starter Deckerd
- Start date
There's:
Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch Naval Admiral from the 17th century
William I of Orange, father of our nation
Johan Cruijff, most famous Dutch football player
And lots more.
Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch Naval Admiral from the 17th century
William I of Orange, father of our nation
Johan Cruijff, most famous Dutch football player
And lots more.
In AUstralia, it's the first fleeters, the explorers and the bushrangers
Ned Kelly
Burke & Wills
Blaxland, Lawson & Wentworth
Ben Hall
Black Caesar
Arthur Phillip
Lachlan Macquarie
Mary Bryant
Each district also has its little coterie of first settlers, whose names are remembered as a town, suburb or street name.
Ned Kelly
Burke & Wills
Blaxland, Lawson & Wentworth
Ben Hall
Black Caesar
Arthur Phillip
Lachlan Macquarie
Mary Bryant
Each district also has its little coterie of first settlers, whose names are remembered as a town, suburb or street name.
In Canada, I'd say it's mostly explorers, generals and Prime Ministers. So:
Explorers:
Samuel de Champlain
Jacques Cartier
Henry Hudson
Alexander Mackenzie
George Vancouver
Generals:
James Wolfe
Henri Montcalm
Sir Isaac Brock
Tecumseh
Sir Arthur Currie
Prime Ministers
Sir John A. Macdonald
Sir Wilfred Laurier
Sir William Lyon Mackenzie King
Pierre Trudeau
You also tend to get locally known figures, like Colonel John By, who's known here for founding the original settlement that became Ottawa, and for overseeing the construction of the Rideau Canal.
Explorers:
Samuel de Champlain
Jacques Cartier
Henry Hudson
Alexander Mackenzie
George Vancouver
Generals:
James Wolfe
Henri Montcalm
Sir Isaac Brock
Tecumseh
Sir Arthur Currie
Prime Ministers
Sir John A. Macdonald
Sir Wilfred Laurier
Sir William Lyon Mackenzie King
Pierre Trudeau
You also tend to get locally known figures, like Colonel John By, who's known here for founding the original settlement that became Ottawa, and for overseeing the construction of the Rideau Canal.
Real
Johnny Appleseed - Planted apple trees across the midwest USA
Billy the Kid - Outlaw
Black Hawk - Sauk Indian warrior who resisted white settlement
Bonnie & Clyde - bank robbers from the 1930s
Daniel Boone - Frontiersman and pioneer
Calamity Jane - Frontierswoman in the Wild West
John Brown - Raided Harper's Ferry which escalated tensions and began the American Civil War
Davy Crockett - Congressman, fought and died at the Alamo
Geronimo - Apache who fought both Mexico and the US, was said to have 'powers'
Wild Bill Hickock - lawman, gunfighter, gambler, scout, Civil War soldier, stage coach driver, performer, abolitionist
Nathan Hale - an army captain during the American Revolution
Casey Jones - legendary locomotive engineer who died while slowing his train down to avoid collision and saved his passengers
Jesse James - Wild West outlaw
Abe Lincoln - 16th American President, tall, self educated, wrestler, axe man, log cabins, Emancipation Proclamation
Possibly fictional
John Henry - 'Strongest Man', a steel-driver he built railroads, raced a steam powered hammer and won, then died from exhaustion
Molly Pitcher - fought in the American Revolution
Fictional
Pecos Bill - 'tamed' the Wild West, lassoed and rode a tornado, rode a mountain lion like a horse, and used a rattlesnake as a lasso
Paul Bunyan - giant lumberjack, had a giant blue ox named Babe
thanks Wikipedia
Johnny Appleseed - Planted apple trees across the midwest USA
Billy the Kid - Outlaw
Black Hawk - Sauk Indian warrior who resisted white settlement
Bonnie & Clyde - bank robbers from the 1930s
Daniel Boone - Frontiersman and pioneer
Calamity Jane - Frontierswoman in the Wild West
John Brown - Raided Harper's Ferry which escalated tensions and began the American Civil War
Davy Crockett - Congressman, fought and died at the Alamo
Geronimo - Apache who fought both Mexico and the US, was said to have 'powers'
Wild Bill Hickock - lawman, gunfighter, gambler, scout, Civil War soldier, stage coach driver, performer, abolitionist
Nathan Hale - an army captain during the American Revolution
Casey Jones - legendary locomotive engineer who died while slowing his train down to avoid collision and saved his passengers
Jesse James - Wild West outlaw
Abe Lincoln - 16th American President, tall, self educated, wrestler, axe man, log cabins, Emancipation Proclamation
Possibly fictional
John Henry - 'Strongest Man', a steel-driver he built railroads, raced a steam powered hammer and won, then died from exhaustion
Molly Pitcher - fought in the American Revolution
Fictional
Pecos Bill - 'tamed' the Wild West, lassoed and rode a tornado, rode a mountain lion like a horse, and used a rattlesnake as a lasso
Paul Bunyan - giant lumberjack, had a giant blue ox named Babe
thanks Wikipedia
This made me think of another Canadian, Laura Secord. During the War of 1812, she and her husband had to billet American soldiers in their house. One evening, she heard officers talking about a plan for a secret attack on British and Native forces at Beaver Dams, so they next morning she left first-thing and walked 30 km across the American-occupied Niagara Peninsula to warn the British commander in the area. Her story has become pretty legendary since then in Canada.
It'd better because except Zinedine Zidane...
(ok, I'm deliberately forgetting some names)
I'd say John Dillinger (very famous bank robber - he was the first "FBI's Most Wanted" criminal) qualifies. His legend includes a lot of the Robin Hood-like qualities that lot of folk heroes seem to have, plus...people seem to think he's just kind of cool. Charisma is a strange thing.
Lets see in our archipelago have:
Robin Hood,
King Arthur (debatable, as he may be welsh
)
Saints Patrick, David, Andrew and George.
Winston Churchill (cos we never forget the bloody World War)
Florance nightingale
William Shakespeare
King Alfred
Wolf tone
The rebels of 1916
Brain Boru
Robert the Bruce
Charles Darwin
...and many more!
(most of whom I cannot remember
)
Robin Hood,
King Arthur (debatable, as he may be welsh
)Saints Patrick, David, Andrew and George.
Winston Churchill (cos we never forget the bloody World War)
Florance nightingale
William Shakespeare
King Alfred
Wolf tone
The rebels of 1916
Brain Boru
Robert the Bruce
Charles Darwin
...and many more!
(most of whom I cannot remember
)
I'll say
How in the world do two-bit punks like John Dillinger, Jesse James, Billy The Kid etc ever become folk heros???
It never would have occurred to me to name them. However, most of the people on backstept's list definitely qualify. In addition, a number of the Founding Fathers are folk heroes, as are Lewis & Clark and Sacajawea, the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Neil Armstrong. We have a lot.How in the world do two-bit punks like John Dillinger, Jesse James, Billy The Kid etc ever become folk heros???
It never would have occurred to me to name them. However, most of the people on backstept's list definitely qualify. In addition, a number of the Founding Fathers are folk heroes, as are Lewis & Clark and Sacajawea, the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Neil Armstrong. We have a lot.How in the world do two-bit punks like John Dillinger, Jesse James, Billy The Kid etc ever become folk heros???
But some two-bit punks are folk heroes. I didn't say they were my heroes, but they fit the definition - this is from Wiki, but it fits in with my understanding of the term: "The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by mention in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore. Folk heroes are also the subject of some films. One major category of folk hero is the defender of the common people against the oppression or corruption of the established power structure. Members of this category of folk hero often, but not necessarily, live outside the law in some way."
There are some very laudible people who qualify as folk heroes as well. But it's not a requirement.
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Yeah, that's true. Some people consider guys like Al Capone folk heroes.
Which reminds me: Eliot Ness.
Which reminds me: Eliot Ness.
