Who’s the greatest person you’ve ever met? Why?

[CrazyOldMe]

Curious as I myself have no answer to this question yet. I’ve met hundreds of lovely people but don’t know who I’d put at the top of the list. However, you often hear others described as “the greatest”.

My manager. She isn’t famous, but she’s great in the sense of being a wonderful person and really important to me. She is very good at her job, both the management and the actual job that all of the team does, and she has put huge amounts of time and patience into helping me through some incredibly difficult, dark times.

Who do you think believes Mandela was in prison for ‘being black’?

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

One doesn't need to explain why...chortle, chortle!

I meant to say big

Not funny, in very poor taste to say that about someone who beat his wife to the extent hospital treatment was required.

And with one of his children, severely failed as a parent to install in his son that he should not lie on an industrial scale.

My dad, definitely!

Love the Alan story.

Not sure why so many of the answers seem to be famous people? For me the most wonderful people in my life are those who have gone through times of great adversity with dignity and gratitude.

In particular I think of a friend who has faced so much in her life - losing a parent when she was 13 to suicide, poverty and abuse after this at the hands of her remaining parent, a brutal sexual attack at University and she still shines with positivity, happiness and genuine joy. She's heavily involved in charities related to her (sad) life events as well as raising a family and working in a competitive field. She's absolutely epic and I always, always aspire to be more like her - patient / kind / supportive and positive!

Of all the people on this thread, this would be mine if I had met her (except maybe Hillary Clinton) Watching her in action at the hearing was jaw dropping.

Is that the breaking the wife's nose Stanley Johnson or a different Stanley Johnson?

My uncle. He died a year ago and still people are telling me ways in which he helped them through work, financially, with legal problems and just by being there for them. The stories are endless and his generosity and kindness were remarkable.

Not sure why so many of the answers seem to be famous people?

Probably because the OP didn't define what she meant by great. People are thinking more 'The Great <someone>' than 'Oh my mate is a great bloke'.

My friend Liz. She was such a good person, kind, funny and principled. Very active in the miner's strike and anti apartheid. We met at Greenham.

She killed herself unfortunately in her early 20s. What a terrible waste. I try to be the best person I can, inspired a lot by her.

My dad. He didn't do anything earth shattering, but everything he did was with others in mind as he made the world a little better with each interaction. He was utterly selfless and got such joy from seeing others succeed. I didn't really appreciate how extra-ordinary he was until he was older; he was a lovely old gentleman and looking back through his life I realized that he had always been there quietly helping everyone out, in the background, never putting himself forward. I hope I can have half the impact he did.

@mindutopia I have tears in my eyes reading about Alan, that is so lovely. How lucky you were to have him in your life!

Presumably, the one who worked in the USA not the one who worked with that horrible Nick Timothy on Theresa May's election campaign.

Tony Benn also. Such a great politian with intelligence and the human touch. A great man.

Dame Ann Dowling. Former head of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge and highly respected professor of engineering specialising in aviation. She is also a member of the Order of Merit chosen by the monarch. Only 24 members at any one time. I have had the honour of working with her as a non-Exec on the Board of a client. She is awesome and also very nice.

And agreed on Fiona Hill. I’d love to meet her.

My Dad's palliative care Consultant. When Dad's cancer was progressing much quicker than expected, his specialist care nurse mentioned hospice and drug management because we just weren't coping with Dad being at home. The first time I spoke to him, he rang to say he had a bed for Dad - his voice just washed over me like a soothing balm and I felt we were in safe hands. He kept Dad in the hospice for just over 4 weeks, and was dreadfully apologetic that they couldn't keep him till the end of life part, but he arranged a nursing home (Dad couldn't go home due to living in a black hole of care provision) and he phoned me every single day to see how Dad was and how I was. When the nursing home care didn't meet Dad's needs, he would phone them at all hours and guide them through process. I don't know if he ever slept! I never met him in person, but felt like he carried me through the hardest journey of my life - losing my darling Dad. I only wish that I could begin to express my gratitude. He felt like my guardian angel in the strangest of ways.

As per the above - the palliative care team that looked after my ex-father in law in his final days.

He’d suffered a brain aneurysm, his death was completely unexpected and they were so kind and compassionate. Every nurse, health care worker and other professional we came into contact with was compassionate and supportive. They would pop in during the night just to see how we were getting on, make whoever was doing “the night shift” a brew, give us pillows to get some rest. They would come in at the start and end of their shift to say bye to him, just incase he’d passed by the time they came back on shift.

We were given access to what was really a staff smoking area, and a nurse bumped into us in it. She apologised for intruding (in her space), and when I said there was no need to apologise, and that the work she did must be really hard going - seeing so many families in the position we were. She said “you only get one go at death, and it’s rewarding to make sure someone gets the best one possible.”

I’m not even with my ex husband anymore, but her attitude and their support will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Dennis Burkitt, who identified Burkitt's Lymphoma and the link between low dietary fibre and bowel cancer. I met him at a conference where he was one of the keynote speakers and I was a medical student. He came and sat with me and a group of other students at breakfast and was a really kind, encouraging and inspiring man who despite his incredible intellect was really down to earth. We all picked wholemeal toast that morning!
Another person who really inspired me was the Sister on one of the wards I worked on as a newly qualified doctor. We had quite a lot of patients with AIDS on the ward - this was the late 80s and there was a huge amount of fear and prejudice but she really led by example. Despite being quite an intimidating person in many ways she showed so much compassion to those patients and was also understanding of staff anxieties and never asked anyone to provide care she wouldn't give herself. There were plenty of occasions later in my career when I found myself thinking "What would Sister C say/do in these circumstances?"

The late Queen. Her knowledge & experience of international affairs, her energy into her 80s, and her ability to get on with everyone were phenomenal.

My supervisor when I was a student in placement. She was utterly brilliant.

Andrew Malkinson