Does group protest leave the lone rebel without a cause?

We like to think of ourselves as a nation of mavericks but who are Britain’s greatest rebels, asks Chris Bond

“What are you rebelling against, Johnny?” shouts a girl. “Whaddaya got?” shrugs a leather-clad Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953).

It has become one of the most famous lines in the history of cinema, one that perfectly encapsulated the spirit of rock ’n’ roll.

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Brando, along with the doomed James Dean, was synonymous with the idea of teenage rebellion during the 1950s.

But the history of protest and rebellion stretches back long before the days of Hollywood and, when it comes to rebel-rousing, Britain’s past is littered with the names of those who have refused to accept the status quo.

Kings and Queens, as well as rock stars and footballers, have been named among a list of all-time great British rebels, after new research was published this week.

A survey of 2,000 people found that Henry VIII topped the poll, with such unlikely companions as Guy Fawkes, Ozzy Osbourne and ex-footballer Vinnie Jones all making the top 10, while the most rebellious woman was named as Elizabeth I. Most of those questioned in the study, commissioned by Sailor Jerry rum, said that being a “goodie two shoes” did not help them progress in life, agreeing that taking chances was the best way to get ahead.

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Those that have been called rebels over the years – from Thomas Becket and Wat Tyler, to Arthur Scargill and John Lennon – have come from all kinds of backgrounds.

However, Dr John Cooper, a lecturer in history at York University, is surprised that Henry VIII tops the list of British rebels.

“I’m quite surprised he’s on this particular list because he hated rebels. But I suppose anyone who had six wives, four of whom were either beheaded or divorced, is a rebel of sorts.

“He was also a man arrogant enough to go it alone and ignore the Pope and make himself the supreme head of the Church of England.”

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Dr Cooper believes our image of Henry has been influenced by countless films and TV series like The Tudors. “The last thing Henry would have thought of himself as was a rebel and he would have hated the idea that people today think of him in that way,” he says. So why do we regard him as a rebellious figure?

“It’s part of our desire to find rebels and mavericks in history. In some ways he was qualified but in others he definitely wasn’t, he was a deeply conservative, superstitious man.”

David Horspool, author of The English Rebel, an excellent account of what the writer calls “one thousand years of troublemaking”, believes the meaning of the word “rebel” has changed over time. “When we talk about rebels now it tends to be about people like Sid Vicious or James Dean, but the idea of the rebel as someone cool that people aspire to be is a very modern idea.

“In the past, if you were called a ‘rebel’ you were seen as being in league with the devil. You were either a loyal subject or you weren’t, there was no middle ground,” he says.

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Horspool agrees that Henry VIII is an unlikely choice of rebel. “His father Henry VII was more of a rebel because he gained his kingdom by leading a rebellion and his daughter Mary Tudor would never have become Queen if she hadn’t been part of a rebellion against Lady Jane Grey. Robert Aske was a Yorkshire lawyer who led the biggest popular rebellion in British history, the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, which saw the whole of the area north of the River Don rise up against Henry’s government.

“It was a massive threat to Henry’s rule and he stamped it out and had Aske beheaded.”

But rebels aren’t confined to the pages of history. “The people camping outside St Paul’s Cathedral come from the same long-standing tradition of protest.

“The difference is today the bailiffs might come and move you, but back in the 16th century they would send in the cavalry and you were risking your life.”

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These days, though, the word “rebel” has perhaps less zeal than it once carried. “It’s normally associated with teenage rebellion, or sometimes we hear about rebel MPs voting against the government. But I think the real power has leached out of the word. If you look at someone like Manchester City footballer Carlos Tevez, in the past, he would have been seen as a rebel but because he earns so much money people don’t sympathise with him, they think he’s just spoilt.”

So are rebels becoming a thing of the past? “I think our idea of them has just changed and there’s less focus on individuals as protest has become more of a group phenomenon.”

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