This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Suuret suomalaiset (Great Finns) was a 2004 television show broadcast in Finland by Yle (the Finnish Broadcasting Company), which determined the 100 greatest Finns of all time according to the opinions of its viewers. The viewers were able to vote during a programme which lasted from October to December 2004. The show was a Finnish spin-off of the BBC's programme Great Britons.
During the final stage of voting, people had the chance to vote for the following three leading candidates: Risto Ryti, C.G.E. Mannerheim and Urho Kekkonen. The winner was baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, a war hero, Marshal of Finland, and president.
Everybody in the top ten can be regarded as "serious" candidates, but right after those first ten are a number of candidates that have probably been selected in a more humorous sense. Positions 11–14 are held by:
After the results were published, much speculation started on the issue of whether Yle had manipulated the results to keep facetious candidates out of the top ten. Yle has condemned the accusations but has refused to publish the number of votes that candidates below top ten received.
The person most conspicuously not appearing on the list is the international diplomat and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, who has been a perennial favourite in Finland for the Nobel Peace Prize, and was finally awarded it in 2008.
In broadcast order:
Other countries have produced similar shows; see Greatest Britons spin-offs
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during the period of World War II (1939–1945), and as the sixth president of Finland (1944–1946). He became Finland's only field marshal in 1933 and was appointed honorary Marshal of Finland in 1942.
Risto Heikki Ryti was a Finnish politician who served as the fifth president of Finland from 1940 to 1944. Ryti started his career as a politician in the field of economics and as a political background figure during the interwar period. He made a wide range of international contacts in the world of banking and within the framework of the League of Nations. Ryti served as prime minister during the Winter War and the Interim Peace, and as president during the Continuation War.
Aleksis Kivi was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, Seitsemän veljestä, published in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 play, Nummisuutarit. Although Kivi was among the very earliest writers of prose and lyrics in Finnish, he is still considered one of the greatest.
Adolf Erik Ehrnrooth was a Finnish general who served during the Winter and Continuation wars. He also competed in two equestrian events at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
The Hietaniemi cemetery is located mainly in the Lapinlahti quarter and partly in the Etu-Töölö district of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is the location for Finnish state funeral services and is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
The Order of the Cross of Liberty is one of three official state orders in Finland, along with the Order of the White Rose of Finland and the Order of the Lion of Finland.
The Order of the Lion of Finland is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of all three orders. The orders are administered by boards consisting of a chancellor, a vice-chancellor and at least four members. The orders of the White Rose of Finland and the Lion of Finland have a joint board. The President of Finland wears the Star of the Order of the Lion of Finland.
Presidential elections were held in Finland on 15 and 29 January 2006 which resulted in the re-election of Tarja Halonen as President of Finland for a second six-year term.
Arto Henrikki Lahti is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Helsinki School of Economics.
Sakari Severi Tuomioja was a Finnish politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Finland between 1953–1954 and as Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1951–1952 and as the Governor of the Bank of Finland between 1945–1955. He was also Finland's ambassador in London and Stockholm.
Tamminiemi is a villa and house museum located in the Meilahti district of Helsinki, Finland. It was one of the three official residences of the President of Finland, from 1940 to 1982. From 1956, until his death, it served as the residence of President Urho Kekkonen. Since 1987, it has been the Urho Kekkonen Museum. Tamminiemi is located in a park by the sea. Its floor area is about 450 square metres (4,800 sq ft); living quarters comprise the first two floors while the third floor is dedicated to office space.
Larin Paraske was an Izhorian runic singer. She is considered a key figure in Finnish folk poetry and has been called the "Finnish Mnemosyne". Her frequent listeners included several romantic nationalist artists, such as Jean Sibelius, seeking inspiration from her interpretations of Kalevala, an epic poem compiled from Finnish folklore by Elias Lönnrot.
Georg Carl Casimir Ehrnrooth was a Finnish politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Parliament for Helsinki from 1958 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1987. He initially represented the Swedish People's Party of Finland but in 1973 he left the party and formed a new political party called the Constitutional People's Party, later known as the Constitutional Right Party. He served as its leader from 1974 to 1992.
The Independence Day Reception is an annual event organised by the President of Finland at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on 6 December, Finland's Independence Day. Invitations are sent to all members of parliament and other representatives of the national and municipal governments, the ambassadors to Finland, representatives of NGOs, important business people, and people who distinguished themselves during the year in the arts, sports, sciences, and other fields.