What have John Lennon, David Livingstone and King Arthur in common, pray? Where would you catch Boadicea, J.K. Rowling and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in bed together? How about Tony Blair, Geoffrey Chaucer and Johnny Rotten? Come on, Paxman. Hurry up! Pass?

The reason for these surreal collocations is that they are included in the top 100 who have been nominated by the British public as the greatest Britons of all time. The top ten will be announced live on BBC Two tomorrow night. Over the coming weeks, ten presenters (starting this week with Jeremy Clarkson on Brunel and Andrew Marr on Darwin) will argue the case for each of them in a studio debate. And at the end of the series, viewers will vote to select the greatest Briton of all time.

So what can we deduce from this latest exercise in pop participatory television, Watson? The BBC asserts that its list provides “a fascinating insight into who (sic) the public considers their (sic) role models in the 21st century”. Obviously not Sam Johnson, that careful grammarian and secular patron saint of England. Sam does not make the list. Boo! But it shows something more interesting than contemporary “role models”.

Let us avoid sarcasm. If you ask a silly question, do not be surprised by a silly answer. Simon Schama may have a point when he says that history teaching is a farce. It is odd that more than half the elected Great Britons are either still living or have only recently fallen off the podium. Some of them are of doubtful entity: King Arthur, the Unknown Soldier. Some are little villains: Aleister Crowley, Guy Fawkes and Henry V. I know that teaching history by kings and queens was silly: Willy, Willy, Harry, Ste... But what sort of a list is it that picks Richard III as a Great Brit, but omits our greatest monarch, Henry VII?

Predictably, the list is short of women and other outsiders such as Celts. It is remarkable how few writers, artists, philosophers and musicians scrape in, unless you count pop stars (of whom there are 11). Wot, no cricketers? No Gibbon? No Tennyson? Hooray, no journalists!

A century ago such a list would have included more generals (three on this list) and inventors (five). A millennium ago it would have been encrusted with monarchs, magnates and warlords. A generation ago there would have been more rebels without a cause, even if they included Sid Vicious.

It is not a novelty that this generation worships instant celebrity more than solid deference. There is no surprise in our short attention span, when everyone can be world famous for 15 minutes. What is touching and encouraging is how many Great Britons are selected for their (supposed) do-gooding acts: Lady Di, Bob Geldof (Brit?), William Booth, William Wilberforce and Florence Nightingale.

We may be a soft-headed generation, but our hearts are soft too. We believe in fairness. We shout for underdogs. We are suspicious of greatness in Britons or elsewhere. We no longer take seriously the honest prejudice that one Great Briton is worth 20 filthy Frogs or other foreigners. This dumb, dumber, dumbest list of Great Britons is a provocative introduction to a debate about its fatuousness. And it shows that we are more humane, kinder, NICER than our predecessors. All our Great yesterdays are one with Nineveh and Tyre. And Kipling does not make the list, natch. Very GB. Very politically embarrassing.

Great Britons: The Top 100, Sunday, BBC Two, 9pm. Great Britons: Brunel, Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm; Great Britons: Darwin, Friday, BBC Two, 9pm.

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