Elvis one of top ten people UK nationals polled would want to share a dinner with

[Jaime1234]

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1512455/Freddie-Mercury-Elvis-Presley-dinner-guests-Princess-Diana-Robin-Williams

By GEORGE SIMPSON


If you could have any historical figure as part of the ultimate dinner party, who would you bring back to life? As part of their Day of the Dead celebrations, Mexican restaurant Wahaca polled Brits to find out the most popular choice of guests.


1. Robin Williams 26%
2. Princess Diana 25%
3. Albert Einstein 21%
4. Freddie Mercury 18%
5. Elvis Presley 16%
6. Marilyn Monroe 16%
7. Winston Churchill 15%
8. Nelson Mandela 13%
9. Bruce Lee 13%
10. Walt Disney 12%
11. Martin Luther King Jr 12%
12. David Bowie 12%
13. Muhammad Ali 12%
14. Anne Frank 11%
15. Bob Marley 11%
16. Stephen Hawking 11%
17. Dame Barbara Windsor 11%
18. Whitney Houston 11%
19. John Lennon 10%
20. Abraham Lincoln 10%
21. William Shakespeare 9%
22. Patrick Swayze 9%
23. Neil Armstrong 9%
24. Rosa Parks 9%
25. Leonardo da Vinci 9%
26. JRR Tolkien 8%
27. Kurt Cobain 8%
28. Steve Irwin 8%
29. George Michael 8%
30. Heath Ledger 8%

[pmp]

I don't think Elvis would be on my list for a dinner guest. Very surprised not to see Dickens or Oscar Wilde there, though.

[TINML]

He'd be in my top 2 - Norm Macdonald would be #1

[steve in SC]

Robin Williams #1?

[Scoobie]

Elvis for sure, but it have to be circa 1968 Elvis in the leather suit or my wife would never forgive me.

[Scoobie]

Robin Williams #1?

I can understand that, he would be most amusing.

[Wayfarer]

One of the more obscure polls, as most ‘Brits’ will not have heard about this poll. Mexican restaurant Wahaca sounds very limited in who it polls. I also wonder if the pollsters handed out a list of names to tick off to help the voters compile a longer list.

Worth noting that the Daily Express article is in fact more a celebration of Freddie Mercury outdoing Elvis than anything about Elvis doing well. Times have changed and so you would expect Elvis to drop down these lists over time, but equal fifth place with Marilyn, in this narrow survey about deceased celebrities, still means Elvis’s popularity or status, alongside the legendary actress, is only slowly declining for this group of voters.

[Jaime1234]

One of the more obscure polls, as most ‘Brits’ will not have heard about this poll. Mexican restaurant Wahaca sounds very limited in who it polls. I also wonder if the pollsters handed out a list of names to tick off to help the voters compile a longer list.

Worth noting that the Daily Express article is in fact more a celebration of Freddie Mercury outdoing Elvis than anything about Elvis doing well. Times have changed and so you would expect Elvis to drop down these lists over time, but equal fifth place with Marilyn, in this narrow survey about deceased celebrities, still means Elvis’s popularity or status, alongside the legendary actress, is only slowly declining for this group of voters.

Mercury was a UK national. The Daily Express, a UK paper, has a circulation of over 250,000 while the restaurant has over a dozen branches throughout the UK. Now, since the Queen screen bio was released in 2018, Mercury has slightly overtaken Elvis (88.21 to 88.01 in HPI, 2020 ) as the most celebrated, read, (Wiki) talked about (TWITTER) listened to, researched, seen (YOUTUBE). rocker born in the 20th century. The diufference between them is so slight that he may overtake Mercury after Baz' 2022 screen bio

https://pantheon.world/explore/rankings?show=people&years=1901,2020&occupation=ACTOR,SINGER,MUSICIAN,FILM%20DIRECTOR,PAINTER,COMPOSER,ARCHITECT,SCULPTOR,COMIC%20ARTIST,PHOTOGRAPHER,CONDUCTOR,COMEDIAN,DESIGNER,ARTIST,DANCER,GAME%20DESIGNER,FASHION%20DESIGNER

[emjel]

One of the more obscure polls, as most ‘Brits’ will not have heard about this poll. Mexican restaurant Wahaca sounds very limited in who it polls. I also wonder if the pollsters handed out a list of names to tick off to help the voters compile a longer list.

Worth noting that the Daily Express article is in fact more a celebration of Freddie Mercury outdoing Elvis than anything about Elvis doing well. Times have changed and so you would expect Elvis to drop down these lists over time, but equal fifth place with Marilyn, in this narrow survey about deceased celebrities, still means Elvis’s popularity or status, alongside the legendary actress, is only slowly declining for this group of voters.

Indeed. I doubt 99% of the U.K. adult population even knew about the poll. Considering the adult population in the U.K. is I believe around 50 million, a poll organised by restaurant that only had around 25 branches in the U.K. (they recently closed 10 due to the Covid lockdown) is another pointless thing - apparently the poll was done to help promote their business back in 2017 during the Mexican celebration"Day of the Dead"..…I doubt they would recently do it again with people still unsure about going to restaurants due to the pandemic…that would be an even smaller number polled…so an outdated poll too. You just gotta laugh at the line in the Express "results as voted for by the great British public".

[Chucky99]

Interesting .
I expected Elvis to be rated much higher.
It seems that the british don' t like MJ, as he is not present in this top.

[Jaime1234]

Interesting .
I expected Elvis to be rated much higher.
It seems that the british don' t like MJ, as he is not present in this top.

Elvis manages to get in the top ten of most surveys. the surprise "winners" on this one in my view being Robin Williams 26% and Bruce Lee 13%, The votes obtained by Princess Diana %25, Albert Einstein 21% Freddie Mercury 18% % and Nelson Mandela 13% are not that surprising.

[emjel]

Interesting .
I expected Elvis to be rated much higher.
It seems that the british don' t like MJ, as he is not present in this top.

The number of people polled was probably pretty low - I’d be surprised if it reached seven thousand patrons at Wahaca’s 25 restaurants over the three days they conducted the poll so hardly representative of the British population. I think it is safe to say that the British public favour Jackson’s music much more than thinking about having dinner with him. His "Number Ones’ album has been in the U.K. album chart for 518 weeks selling nearly 3 million copies and his Thriller album over 250 weeks selling around 4.5 million.

[Jaime1234]

Interesting .
I expected Elvis to be rated much higher.
It seems that the british don' t like MJ, as he is not present in this top.

The number of people polled was probably pretty low - I’d be surprised if it reached seven thousand patrons at Wahaca’s 25 restaurants over the three days they conducted the poll so hardly representative of the British population. I think it is safe to say that the British public favour Jackson’s music much more than thinking about having dinner with him. His "Number Ones’ album has been in the U.K. album chart for 518 weeks selling nearly 3 million copies and his Thriller album over 250 weeks selling around 4.5 million.

You are quite correct in asserting that the relationship between 10, 50, 200, or 500 Britons wanting to hear or see someone on the one hand and choosing them at their home guests for dinner on the other is negligable. Lady Diana, Nelson Mandela, and Winston Churchill to just name a few, could be three people who 10, 50, 100, 200, 500 would wish for them to sit next to, but are likewise less prone to be on their minds on a day to day basis. But when asked, they come to mind, because like Elvis, they are historical people.

[Gamma Master]

Regardless of the sample size or where the survey was conducted, I'm sure that Elvis would still poll high on a more comprehensive poll. People in the first instant tend to think of the most famous people they know who have also lived the most interesting lives, and I think Elvis ticks both of those boxes.

[c. Richer]

I'd invite John Cooper Clarke.

[pmp]

Interesting .
I expected Elvis to be rated much higher.
It seems that the british don' t like MJ, as he is not present in this top.

I think Jackson's reputation outside of music has a lot to answer for in that regard...