Thetford’s political revolutionary Thomas Paine has been named the greatest ever English radical by Twitter users.
In celebration of St George’s Day the Twitter page English Radical History hosted a poll of 105 famous radicals throughout English history.
Paine is known as one of the founding fathers of the United States and wrote influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution.
English Radical History posted: “Out of a field of 105 candidates, which included revolutionaries, monarchs, priests, atheists, suffragettes, MPs, soldiers, poets and philosophers, the Thetford-born revolutionary and theorist Thomas Paine, 1737-1809, came top of our poll of greatest ever English radicals.”
In second places was John Liburne, leader of the Levellers, a Civil War political movement in the 1600s.
Paine migrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin. His pamphlet Common Sense became an all-time best-selling title.
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