Churchill voted greatest Briton

Winston Churchill is the winner of the BBC's Great Britons poll.

Well over one million votes were received in the competition.

Churchill gained 447,423 votes, beating his nearest rival, engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, by more than 56,000 votes.

Celebrities including former Tory minister Michael Portillo and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson argued the case for their choices for greatest Briton.

In the end Churchill, former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam's choice, won convincingly after the month-long survey.

Dr Mowlam put her case for the heroic war leader in the last of the documentaries presented by the advocates, provoking a late surge of support and putting Churchill in the lead.

Summarising her argument, she said: "If Britain - its eccentricity, its big heartedness, its strength of character - has to be summed up in one person, it has to be Winston Churchill."

England football captain David Beckham also threw his weight behind the Churchill campaign yesterday, saying simply: "He was a giant of a leader at a time when Britain needed hope and inspiration."

The other "giants" in the top 10 were: Diana, Princess of Wales; Charles Darwin; William Shakespeare; John Lennon; Elizabeth I; Sir Isaac Newton; Viscount Horatio Nelson; and Oliver Cromwell.