Surprised that Anna Anderson (likely real name: Franziska Schanzkowska) didn't make the list. She was the most famous imposter of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov.
I don't remember which channel, but Simon's done a video on it, so they may have chosen not to add it to the list for that reason. I like that we don't get a lot of reordered lists on this channel.
I think this list purposefully left out some of the better known imposters on purpose to highlight others that are more likely to be unfamiliar to the viewer.
I did miss at least the mention of Frank Abagnale, made even more notable by the movie "Catch Me If you Can." I had heard him relate his story years before the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks came out. The man is utterly fascinating and one of the best story-tellers ever. Rather than going on about it, I congratulate you on another entertaining and enlightening piece. Thanks!
I was thinking that too. Someone should start one? (Which would make them the false false dmitris. Imposter of an impostor etc?) There's an electronica artist named False Dmitrii tho.
I have an impostor who I can’t seem to get rid of, she looks like me, has the same birthday, her parents have the same name as mine, etc. I keep telling my parents I wanna call the police but apparently I can’t have my twin sister arrested for annoying me 😔
I've noticed that a lot of guys have taken up the bald w/ beard look on RU-vid ... did you start a trend? If so I think it should be called the Whistler 8()
7:32 The princes were 12 and 9 years old. It sounded like you said 12 and 19, so I checked the caption, and that said 19 also. So, if anyone is wondering, it's 12 and 9, not 19.
@Karla Kirkpatrick History states that Edward V was born 2 November 1470 and Prince Richard was born 17 August 1473. For Edward to have been 14 (assuming the August 1483 hypothesis) he would have to have been born sometime around (EDIT: or before) August of 1469. If Edward's known birthdate of November 1470 is correct, this would place the date of his death somewhere between 2 November 1484 and 1 November 1485. However, this second scenario would have to mean that Prince Richard was born sometime between August 1474 and early 1475 (Otherwise, he would be 11). Either this royal historian is bad at simple arithmetic, or, he/she has irrefutable evidence that the birthdates of one (or both) of the brothers is incorrect. Or, they died much later than reported. In either case, I'd very much like to see said evidence.
I also love how the house of York “ended” but when you think of it, Elizabeth of York married Henry Tudor, that was his strong link to keeping England. So York still ruled (their blood) just under a different name. (I love history)
@@Christinebanks11 Yeah, but the title of the list is the "Most Infamous Imposters In History", that isn't designated to just people who pretended to be royalty. And not everyone on this list pretended to be royalty. So, I'm trying to find the point you're trying to make 🤔🤔🤔
Perhaps because Frank Abagnale never pretended to be a specific person of notoriety? He simply took on the role of a pilot, doctor, attorney, etc. with fictitious names. Although, that sounds like what Frank Demara did.
Simon: History is full of imposters who donned new guises and successfully pretended to be someone else for money, power, or in some cases, just for fun. Me: Yep! Only in the real world, we call them politicians and Hollywood.
In grade 5, I would regularly log onto Club Penguin and go around telling people that I was Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day. Move over, false Dmitris 😎
A couple of things: 1. Samuel Johnson was NOT a playwright, though he was everything else. He wrote essays, a stitch of a short story ("Rasselas"), and wrote the first decent English dictionary, by himself, of all things. 2. I was close to Fred Demara, once. In 1960 or so, my mother and I were driving to my grandparents' house in South Lawrence, Massachusetts, when my mother flipped, "That's Frederick W. Demara, The Great Impostor!" All I can remember is seeing the back of a man walking away. Also, Anna Anderson, aka, The Grand Duchess Anastasia, could have appeared.
I had to laugh when I heard they executed the cat. Just last night I was watching "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" and a lynch mob built two funeral pyres to burn "witch" Elvira (the big pyre) and her "familiar" dog "Gronk" (the little pyre) at the stake. On another note, I expected Anna Anderson to be #1 on your list.
I believe there was a MASH episode which alluded to the impostor surgeon. I note you didn’t mention Emperor Norton? (Presumably he wasn’t an impostor because he never claimed to be somebody else?).
Number 6, I would have loved to have heard the conversation about putting the cat to death. "Better go ahead and exacute the cat too, don't want this happening again" "Oh yes very well then, sire"
About the False Dmitris - there was something on spot with the 1st one. He bore physical resemblance (including characteristic warts on his face) to the oryginal tsarevich, he had aristocratic manners and was very educated. According to some sources he even suffered epileptic seazures. He was also failry beloved; before his assasination the Shuyskis conspirators actually incited the mob to riot by claiming he was murdered by enemies... There's a chance he *MIGHT have been real*. Alas, due to the unfortunate cannon-shooting-to-Poland thing, it's impossible to DNA check. Russian claim after his death was consistently that he was a runaway monk Grigoriy Otreptev, but it's so universal (and completely unverifiable) in Russian sources that it's almost certainly just result of forcefuly pressing the official story (and discouraging any questions). The next ones after him were unquestionably scams.
For those who wonder, as I first did, why there are 8 impostors instead of 10 as expected in a genuine top 10... well, it’s a fraud, as an illustration of the subject of the video. Boy, do I like bristish humour So smart! 😊
Simon mentioned on his biographics video of Andrew Carnegie (or one of his other videos) that it is pronouncement as "Car-neg-ee" specifically. Probably said that explicitly to mitigated the negative youtube comments (I'm not saying your comment is negative, he just tends to get alot of them when he pronounces things differently than his US audience).
I was expecting Anna Anderson as Grand Duchess Anastasia to be on the list but I guess she doesn't count because most sources say she legitimately believed she was the unfortunate princess.
Like 98! I think like everyone, been a wee bit edgy, worried, out of sorts just a little bit. Every update of yours I get lowers my blood pressure & I appreciate it very much! Thank you for being reliable Simon & every hard working person with him. Be safe everyone!
The cat was executed too!? Its crazy how crazy people were back then. I guess, since they didn't believe him, they also weren't willing to take any chances of it being true
what about Orton/Tichbourne? missing heir (tall, slender, speaks french) impersonated by australian butcher (short, fat, doesnt speak french), and the people of england had to have several court cases to prove he wasnt the real guy (was the term 'dimwit' in use in Victorian times?)
Talking about impostors. I subscribed to this great Coinbase channel and now that they have me subscribed they change the content. The nerve on some people...
@@dawnelizabeth1828 ok well yeah it sucks getting caught braking the law now a days but it sucks worse back then because it was before laws was put in place against torturing people to get a confession
my country have their own classic scammers, time was around 1950, the country just few years got it independence, suddenly the presidential palace (equivalent to White House) got visitors, a couple claiming to be king and queen of small kingdom in the farthest island (royalty babbling), these people convincing the palace guards and servants, don't want to be rude, these king and queen got royalty treatment, and finally a welcome parade, the parade is end of their scheme, local rickshaw pullers claiming the "king" as their fellow puller, further investigation the "queen" is just local prostitute. very shameful but that time even if they suspecing the visitors, they can't just google their legitimacy, they need a week of field investigation.
