W Churchill defeats Martin Luther King

Churchill

Only Winston Churchill was a more inspiring orator than Martin Luther King, the British public says in a ComRes survey for The Independent yesterday. To mark the 50th anniversary of King's "I have a dream" speech on 28 August, the newspaper asked people to compare King with eight other speakers.
The resulting league table shows being dead is the most important qualification for a high ranking, and that current or recent UK politicians are the worst rated. David Cameron is saved from last place only by his immediate predecessor at No 10.
Of our sample, 39 per cent said Churchill was a "more inspiring" speaker than King, and a further 36 per cent that he was "about the same" – presumably thinking of his wartime radio addresses rather than his postwar claim that a Labour government "would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo".
King's speech, once voted by academics as the best US speech of the 20th century, will be commemorated later this month by Americans led by Barack Obama, who is in fifth place. President Obama is the highest-ranked living person.
John F Kennedy comes third in the table. The 50th anniversary of his assassination, three months after King's speech, falls this 22 November. Margaret Thatcher, whose "lady is not for turning" speech was much replayed when she died in April, comes fourth.