MADRID — Reuters Published on Wednesday, May. 23, 2007 7:57AM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 10:53PM EDT
Spanish King Juan Carlos has been voted the greatest Spaniard, leaving literary great Miguel Cervantes in second and Christopher Columbus, thought by most historians to be Italian, in third.
Television channel Antena 3 interviewed more than 3,000 people to find the "Greatest Spaniard of all time" and announced the winner during a TV show on Tuesday night.
The King is widely credited with defusing an attempted military coup by senior army officers in 1981, in which soldiers threatened the young democracy by briefly seizing control of parliament and state radio.
Queen Sofia was voted fourth greatest while Crown Prince Felipe lay in seventh. Ex-dictator Francisco Franco was 23rd.
In similar votes in other countries, the French voted for president Charles De Gaulle, the British for wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, the Americans for president Ronald Reagan and Canadians for Tommy Douglas.
Greatest Spaniards according to the Antena 3 poll:
1. King Juan Carlos
2. Miguel Cervantes, writer
3. Christopher Columbus, explorer
4. Queen Sofia
5. Adolfo Suarez, prime minister 1976-1981
6. Ramon y Cajal, scientist
7. Crown Prince Felipe
8. Pablo Picasso, artist
9. Saint Teresa
10. Felipe Gonzalez, Prime Minister 1982-1996
Notable others:
16. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, prime minister 2004-
23. Francisco Franco, dictator 1939-1975
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