Mother Teresa polled Most Loved Mandela-Like Figure

Mother Teresa has topped the list of the worlds 90 most inspirational icons in a poll commemorating Nelson Mandelas 90th birthday on July 18.

London, July 20 : Mother Teresa has topped the list of the world's 90 most inspirational icons in a poll commemorating Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday on July 18.

Telegraph readers have chosen Mother Teresa as their most loved Mandela-like figure over Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and even Jesus Christ.

The poll, conducted by Telegraph Travel and South African Airways, invited the readers to vote for the people - living or dead - who have best demonstrated Mandela's key characteristics: courage, dignity, humility, persistence, forgiveness and kindness.

Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun, who was born in Albania, and worked for the welfare of people in India.

The poll listed may icons from the world of music, which include John Lennon, Bob Marley and Sir Elton John. There were many sports heroes in the list like Muhammad Ali, Sir Steve Redgrave, Jesse Owens, Ellen MacArthur and Tiger Woods.

The most popular figures in politics were Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Churchill, while in science the most highly placed were Sir Alexander Fleming, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie.

While Oprah Winfrey was in 31st position between the footballers Pele and Bobby Moore, there were many leading figures who narrowly missed out on the top 90, which included David Livingstone, Beethoven and Yehudi Menuhin.

Those who voted were invited to enter a prize draw to win one of 45 pairs of tickets for a return flight with South African Airways from London Heathrow to either Cape Town or Johannesburg.

The top 50 of the world's 90 most inspirational icons are :

1 Mother Teresa

2 Archbishop Desmond Tutu

3 Sir Winston Churchill

4 Mahatma Gandhi

5 Sir Alexander Fleming

6 Muhammad Ali

7 Martin Luther King

8 John Lennon

9 Albert Einstein

10 Marie Curie

11 Sir Steve Redgrave

12 Jesse Owens

13 Dr Christiaan Barnard

14 Oscar Schindler

15 Bob Marley

16 The 14th Dalai Lama

17 Antonio Gaudi

18 Tim Berners-Lee

19 Aung San Suu Kyi

20 Diana, Princess of Wales

21 Audrey Hepburn

22 Sir Elton John

23 Myriam Makeba

24 Ellen MacArthur

25 Tiger Woods

26 Steve Biko

27 F W de Klerk

28 Maya Angelou

29 Bill and Melinda Gates

30 Pele

31 Oprah Winfrey

32 Bobby Moore

33 Albert Schweitzer

34 Emmeline Pankhurst

35 Fran�ois Pienaar

36 Mikhail Gorbachev

37 Rosa Parks

38 Francis Crick

39 Sir Donald Bradman

40 Dame Kelly Holmes

41 Jamie Oliver

42 Bernard Kouchner

43 Virginia McKenna

44 Anita Roddick

45 Sigmund Freud

46 James Watson

47 Al Gore

48 Margaret Thatcher

49 Max Planck

50 Bob Geldof

51 John F Kennedy

52 Peter Benenson

53 Florence Nightingale

54 William Wilberforce

55 Bob Dylan

56 Elvis Presley

57 Damien Hirst

58 Pope John Paul II

59 Stephen Hawking

60 Jackie Robinson

61 Roger Federer

62 Jesus Christ

63 Leonardo da Vinci

64 Pablo Picasso

65 Charles Darwin

66 Sir David Attenborough

67 Sir Ian Botham

68 Sir Paul McCartney

69 Barack Obama

70 Jane Tomlinson

71 David Beckham

72 Franklin D Roosevelt

73 Gary Player

74 Helen Suzman

75 Lance Armstrong

76 Paul Simon

77 Sir Bobby Charlton

78 Terry Waite

79 Billy Graham

80 Bono

81 George Best

82 Isambard Kingdom Brunel

83 Louis Pasteur

84 Morgan Tsvangirai

85 Queen Elizabeth II

86 Ruben Dario

87 Sir Frank Whittle

88 Daniel Barenboim

89 Ian Douglas Smith

90 John Sentamu

ANI