London, Aug 11: Large support from India has pitched Isaac Newton to the top of the list in a global contest aimed at finding the greatest Briton ever.
Newton is leading over Winston Churchill and nine other well-known Britons, including Princess Diana, William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin and John Lennon.
The organisers, BCC, began screening the "Great Britons" series across the world three months ago.
Voting is due to end on Wednesday but the current gap between Newton and Churchill is large enough to ensure that the scientist emerges the winner.
Newton has 21 per cent of the votes while Churchill has 16 per cent.
Data released by organisers reveal different perceptions about Britons across the world.
While Newton has a large following in India, Cyprus, Estonia and Holland, Churchill remains the favourite of British expatriates.
William Shakespeare has been voted the greatest Briton in France, Italy and the former Yugoslavia. The late princess is deemed the greatest in Argentina and South Africa.
The Brazilians have a penchant for John Lennon, and have placed him third. The late Beatle is in eighth place overall.
Expressing surprise that Diana was not more popular in India, commissioning editor of Great Britons", Narendhra Morar said that Newton was more popular as voting was possible only on the Internet.
"He (Newton) is probably having his support boosted by technical types, likely to be in IT and therefore likely to appreciate Newton`s science background a bit more," Morar said.
Historian Tristram Hunt, who presented the episode on Newton, said, "The world audience realises that Newton`s achievements were global and affected all mankind. These voters obviously thought beyond the nation. I`m glad that he`s winning."
The organisers said that they wanted to extend the programme globally to know how perceptions differed across nations on who is great.