It’s Official: 2019’s Best Role Model For Children is - Richard Branson

Richard Branson has been named “best role model for children,” in a large poll of 2,000 parents in the UK.

The poll, conducted by 3Gem on behalf of Perpetual Fostering, gave parents a complete free choice (no shortlist) of celebrities to name, resulting in 424 different people being named.

Richard Branson came out on top with 6.69% of the vote, followed closely by David Beckham (5.45%) and Lord Alan Sugar (4.44%).

Entrepreneurs and Business magnates make up 3 of the top 5 while politicians feature highly too:

Here’s the full top 50:


Rank Name Occupation Gender % of Vote
1 Richard Branson British Entrepreneur M 6.6860
2 David Beckham English Footballer M 5.4506
3 Alan Sugar British Entrepreneur M 4.4331
4 Bill Gates AmericanEntrepreneur M 4.2878
5 Barack Obama Former US President M 2.8343
6 JK Rowling British author F 2.4709
7 David Attenbrough British broadcaster and natural historian M 2.3256
8 Holly Willoughby English television presenter F 1.6715
9 Michelle Obama American lawyer F 1.5262
10 Emma Watson British actress F 1.3808
11 Steve Jobs American Entrepreneur M 1.3808
12 Cristiano Ronaldo Portuguese footballer M 1.3081
13 Stephen Hawking English theoretical physicist M 1.2355
14 Greta Thunberg Swedish environmental activist F 1.2355
15 Kate Middleton British Royalty F 1.2355
16 Will Smith American actor and rapper M 1.1628
17 Albert Einstein Physicist developed the theory of relativity M 1.0901
18 Donald Trump President M 1.0901
19 Elon Musk American entrepreneur, M 1.0174
20 Gordon Ramsey British chef M 1.0174
21 Dwayne Johnson American-Canadian actor M 0.9448
22 Boris Johnson British Prime Minister M 0.9448
23 Prince William British Royalty M 0.9448
24 Brian Cox Physicist M 0.7994
25 Mark Zuckerberg American entrepreneur M 0.7267
26 Jamie Oliver British chef M 0.7267
27 Beyonce Knowles American singer- songwriter F 0.7267
28 The Queen British royalty F 0.7267
28 Victoria Beckham British Entrepreneur, fashion designer and singer F 0.6541
30 Jesus Christ Jewish preacher M 0.6541
31 Oprah Winfrey American media executive, presenter F 0.5814
32 Prince Harry British Royalty M 0.5814
33 Nelson Mandela South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader M 0.5087
34 Simon Cowell English talent manager and entrepreneur M 0.5087
35 Phillip Schofield English television presenter M 0.5087
36 Bear Grylls British TV presenter M 0.5087
37 Jessica Ennis-Hill British track and field athlete F 0.5087
38 Brad Pitt American actor M 0.4360
39 Keanu Reeves Canadian actor and musician M 0.4360
40 Leonardo Di Caprio American actor M 0.4360
41 Stephen Fry English actor M 0.4360
42 Peter Jones British entrepreneur M 0.4360
43 Ed Sheeran British singer, songwriter M 0.4360
44 Adele British Singer-songwriter F 0.4360
45 Ben Carson American politician M 0.4360
46 Gandhi Indian lawyer and political ethicist M 0.4360
47 Lionel Messi Argentine footballer M 0.4360
48 Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter M 0.3634
49 Andy Murray Scottish Tennis Player M 0.3634
50 Harry Kane English footballer M 0.3634


Other key points from the findings:

● Women made up just 24% of the top 50 role models according to parents
● The top performing female in our survey was JK Rowling, netting 2.4% of the vote
● Both Barack and Michelle Obama feature in the top 10
● Gret Thunberg polled 14th
● Boris Johnson came in at position 22
● The entire top 3 left school at 16
● Both Barack Obama and Donald Trump polled higher than Borish Johnson


Lisa Witter, Manager of Perpetual Fostering comments:

“We love to get the views of parents on who makes the most positive role model for children. It’s interesting to see that names that have been around years still poll the highest. Newer names, like Greta Thunberg, who’ve had high profile coverage in 2019 performed well too. The top performing politician was Barack Obama, beating any British politician by 17 places.”

Our full write up is at https://perpetualfostering.co.uk/insights/celebrity-role-models-who-do-parents-think-is-the-best-role-model-for-their-children/

To see the raw data, access any visuals or get further comment, please contact [email protected]