New Lists #3 - Options after we die.

 I have absolutely no idea. Although I figure it will be one of these ten situations.

1. We cease to exist completely in all dimensions.

2. We are recycled and reborn as humans somewhere else on Earth.

3. We join with a singularity so that our consciousness becomes one with the new medium.

4. We are reborn as a life form somewhere else in the universe.

5. We are reborn as a non-human life form on Earth.

6. We join with another consciousness and are reborn in some form or another.

7. We move into another dimension that our living conscious here on Earth cannot comprehend.

8. We ascend to the paradise described in traditional views of heaven. Never to be reborn again.

9. We are reborn in another world but keep our knowledge gained from the previous life.

10. We (or at least some of us) become 'angels' or messengers. Building new worlds across the universe that will themselves be populated by life

Scientific materialism would suggest 1. I am personally hoping for 3 or 6. They are way cooler.

New Lists #2 - The 20 Greatest Characters that I most enjoyed Reading about in British Comics

1. Judge Dredd (2000AD and Judge Dredd)

2. Charley Bourne from Charley's War (Battle/Action)

3. Roy Race ( Roy of the Rovers)

4. Alf Tupper from Tough of the Tracks(Victor Comics)

5. Skid Solo (Tigers Comics)

6. Dan Dare (Eagle)

7. Tommy Barnes from Tommy's Troubles (Roy of the Rovers)

8. Johnny Cougar (Tiger Comics)

9. Joe Taggart (from Spinball in Battle/Action)

10. Jon Stark (Football Mercenary in Scoop Comic)

11. Hot Shot Hamish (Tiger/Roy of the Rovers)

12. Rogue Trooper (2000AD)

13. Numbskulls (Beezer Comic)

14. Bash Street Kids (Beano)

15. Billy Dane of Billy Boots Fame (Tiger)

16. Mighty Mouse (Roy of the Rovers)

17. ABC Warriors (2000AD)

18. Judge Anderson (2000AD and Judge Dredd)

19.Mike and his mini men (Roy of the Rovers)

20. Trigo (Trigan Empire Series)

New Lists #1 - The Top 100 Movies that I Personally like

These are movies that really resonated with me and that I would clearly watch over again (something I rarely do). I am not a film critic so I will not pass judgement and their production brilliance. This is all about personal taste and comfort. (Yes I know that Godfather should be #1 or #2.... Citizen Kane and Casablanca are on my list to watch as is Scarface and The Untouchables).

1. Back the Future (the first movie not the sequels)

2. Silence of the Lambs

3. Casino

4. Goodfellas

5. Interstellar

6. High Noon

7. Gran Torino

8. Raiders of the Lost Ark

9. Glengarry Glen Ross

10. Downfall

11. Pulp Fiction

12. Ten Commandments

13. Star Wars a New Hope

14. Schindler's List

15. The Unforgiven

16. Jurassic Park

17. Once Upon a Time in America

18. The Spy who Loved me

19. Dredd

20. Gone with The Wind

21.Blood Diamond

22. Apocalypse Now

23. Saving Private Ryan

24. Empire Strikes Back

25. Demolition Man

26. The Right Stuff

27. Sleuth (the original)

28. Trainspotting

29. Gladiator

30. American Beauty

31. Inception

32. The Party

33. Spartacus

34.  Grease

35. When Harry Met Sally

36. Goldfinger

37. The Matrix

38. Dodgeball

39. Gangs of New York

40. Fury

41. Where Eagles Dare

42. Rocky 

43.  The Chosen

44. Carry on Doctor (My favourite Carry on Movie)

45. Airplane

46. The Great Escape

47. In Time

48. There's only one Jimmy Grimble

49. Ford v Ferrari

50. Life of Brian

51. The Godfather

52. The Dark Knight

52. People v Larry Flynt

53. Whiplash

54. The Notebook

55. Amadeus

56. Wolf of Wall Street

57. The Red Violin

58. Platoon

59. Exodus

60. Jaws

61. Wild Geese

62. Karate KId

63. Princess Bride

64. American Pie

65. White Men Can't Jump

66. Full Metal Jacket

67. The Departed

68. Judgement at Nuremberg

69. The Holdovers

70. Escape to Victory

71. Rush

72. Ice Cold in Alex

73. Top Gun

74. Princess Bride

75. Donny Brasco 

76. Rear Window

77. Chariots of Fire

78. Seven

79. Rambo

80. Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1939)

81. Boogie Nights

82. Fargo

83.The Doors

84. Angel Heart

85. The Hangover

86. The Secret of My Success

87. The Death of Stalin

88. Inglourius Bastards

89. Rocky III

90. Tropic Thunder

91. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

92. Home Alone

93. Annie Hall

94. Batman (1988)

95. Bohemian Rhapsody

96.  Higher Learning

97. Coming to America

98. Enter the Dragon

99. My Cousin Vinny

100. Superman II

Top 50 Greatest Male Tennis since World War II

I have modified this over the years but in my opinion this is my ranking of the Top 50 Male Tennis players post WWII. I realize that there are some great pre-WWII players - Tilden, Vines, Budge, Perry, Borotra, Cochet and Lacoste but I don't know enough personally to rank them.

My prediction for the future is that Djokovic will eventually surpass both Federer and Nadal to become the GOAT.

1. Roger Federer (Switzeland)

2. Rafael Nadal (Spain)

3. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

4. Rod Laver (Australia)

5. Pete Sampras (United States)

6. Bjorn Borg (Sweden)

7. Pancho Gonzalez (United States)

8. John McEnroe (United States)

9. Jimmy Connors (United States)

10. Ivan Lendl (Czech/United States)

11. Ken Rosewall (Australia)

12. Andre Agassi (United States)

13. Roy Emerson (Australia)

14. Boris Becker (Germany)

15. Stefan Edberg (Sweden)

16. John Newcombe (Australia)

17. Mats Wilander (Sweden)

18. Andy Murray (UK)

19. Guillermo Vilas (Argentina)

20. Arthur Ashe (United States)

21. Lew Hoad (Australia)

22. Ilie Nastase (Romania)

23. Jim Courier (United States)

24. Andy Roddick (United States)

25. Manuel Santana (Spain)

26. Tony Trabert (United States)

27. Ashley Cooper (Australia)

28. Jack Kramer (United States)

29. Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)

30. Frank Sedgman (United States)

31. Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)

32. Stan Smith (United States)

33. Guestavo Kuertin (Brazil)

34. Neale Fraser (Australia)

35. Marat Safin (Russia)

36. Vitas Gerulatis (United States)

37. Michael Chang (United States)

38. Jarolslav Drobny (Czech/Egypt)

39. Pat Rafter (Australia) 

40. Sergi Bruguera (Spain)

41. Vic Seixas (United States)

42. Pancho Segura (Ecuador/United States)

43. Michael Stich (Germany)

44. Goran Ivansevic (Croatia)

45. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)

46. Nicola Pietrangeli (Italy) 

47. Thomas Muster (Austria)

48. Carlos Moya (Spain)

49. Alex Olmedo (Peru/United States)

50. Miloslav Mecir (Slovakia)

Italy's Greatest Football Team

(Answered on Quora)

Fan opinions will differ. The only way to objectively answer this is to examine the math. Nevertheless a quick glance at the numbers tells you that there are realistically only three teams in contention: AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus.

Clubs of Serie A source: Serie A Stadiums 2019-20 | Calcio e Finanza

Torino had a golden age in the time just after World War Two, while Genoa and Bologna excelled prior to the war. However in league titles alone all three significantly trail the trio of silverware winning juggernauts . The same can be said of Pro Vercelli.

Roma have indeed been runners-up in the league on fourteen occasions ,eight more than derby rivals Lazio but the two teams from Italy’s capital have only five league titles between them, less in fact that Torino’s haul of nine or Genoa’s seven. They also have no Champion League/European cup trophies.

So lets look at today’s Big Three. I will use a similar point system that I employed in answering the question - Gavin Kanowitz's answer to Is Liverpool the most successful English soccer club by far?

One change…(I have weighted the Italian Domestic Cup- Coppa Italia with three points as it appears to have less relative significance than England’s FA Cup.

Here then is the point allocation system

Champions League - 8, Serie A/Scudetto - 6, UEFA Cup/Europa League/Cup Winners Cup - 5, Coppa Italia - 3, All other competitions - 1 (Supercoppa Italia, Intercontinental Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup. Mitropa Cup, UEFA Intertoto Cup). Lower division titles are ignored.

AC Milan - The Rossoneri (Red and Black) are Italy’s most successful team in the European Cup/Champions League and boast seven titles in Europe’s most prestigious competition. This places them in second place behind Real Madrid (13 titles). All in all AC Milan have won 18 FIFA and UEFA trophies (5 UEFA Supercups, 3 Intercontinental Cups, 2 Cup Winners-cups and a single FIFA World Club Cup plus the Champions League haul mentioned earlier). They also have one Mitropa Cup. Ironically AC Milan have never won the UEFA Cup/Europa League. On the domestic front AC Milan have 18 league titles , 5 Coppa Italias and 7 Supercoppa Italias.

AC Milan source: AC Milan wallpapers | Ac milan, Milan, Olahraga

Total points haul - 206

Inter Milan - Inter Milan (Nerazzuri - Black and Blues) rival AC Milan with 18 Domestic League titles. They have 7 Coppa Italia and 5 Supercoppa trophies. In Europe Inter won back-to-back European Cups in 1964 and 1965 and then added a third Champions League in 2010 in what proved to be a treble winning year. The club has also won 3 UEFA Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups and a single FIFA World Club Cup. Inter Milan also hold the record for the most season consecutive seasons in the Italian top flight (106).

Inter Milan players celebrating source: indiaexpress.com

Total points haul - 173

Juventus - Juventus are far and away Italy’s most decorated club when it comes to capturing the Scudetto. La Vecchia Signora (the Old Lady) have 35 League titles almost double the haul of each of the Milan Clubs. In their current run they have won eight league titles in a row. They are also Italy’s most successful team in the Coppa Italia with with 13 titles (four more than second place Roma). In terms of Supercoppa Italia they lead the pack with eight trophies. On the continent Juventus have won 2 European Cups/Champions Leagues, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 2 UEFA Cups, 2 European Super Cups and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. In addition they have 2 Intercontinental Cups to their name.

Juventus of Turin in their traditional black and white source: the local.it

Total Points haul - 293

So based on this analysis I would have to give the honours to Juventus although AC Milan’s tremendous record of success both in Europe and on a worldwide level should not be understated.

Now I agree there is some wiggle room around the numbers but I don’t believe that it is nearly enough to dethrone Juventus.

Source:

1. Serie A Champions History
2. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/history/
3. Football in Italy - Wikipedia

Top Ten Charles Dicken's Novels of All Time

Just my Opinion...........

1. David Copperfield
2. Oliver Twist
3. A Tale of Two Cities
4. Great Expectations
5. Pickwick Papers
6. Nicholas Nickelby
7. The Mystery of Edwin Drood
8. A Christmas Carol
9. The Old Curiosity Shop
10. Bleak House

Ranking I - Greatest British Monarchs

These would be my Top Ten. Key Criteria - contribution and impact on the success of the Nation and its defining culture.

1. Elizabeth I
2. Alfred the Great
3. Henry VIII
4. Henry VII
5. Henry V
6. William the Conqueror
7. Victoria
8. Edward I
9. William and Mary of Orange
10. Edward III

Of course this is up to debate. This does not imply that said figures were great human beings - Edward I and Henry VIII were certainly not.