Joseph Rowntree and Dame Judi Dench are to go down in history as York's all-time greats.

Actress Judi Dench, our Millennium Person of the Present, pictured earlier this year after winning an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Shakespeare In Love

They were chosen by the people of York as the two most outstanding characters in the city's past and present as we approach the dawn of a new Millennium.

The Evening Press, Radio York and City of York Council launched a search earlier this year for York's Millennium Person of the Past and Millennium Person of the Present, looking for the individuals who in some way most stood out in the long, rich history of our city.

And it was up to Evening Press readers and Radio York listeners to have their say on just who those two people would be.

Their names will be commemorated for posterity on special plaques in the city centre in the New Year. York streets will also be named after the two winners.

Voting in an early round helped us to draw up a shortlist of seven outstanding contenders in each of the two categories. They were:

Millennium Person of the Past: Religious martyr Margaret Clitherow; Roman Emperor Constantine; Civil war hero Lord Fairfax; Railway King George Hudson; King Richard III; Rowntree's founder and philanthropist Joseph Rowntree; son of Joseph and social reformer Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree.

Millennium Person of the Present: York-born Oscar-winning composer John Barry; Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench; lifelong York Minster stained-glass expert Peter Gibson; actor and veteran Theatre Royal panto dame Berwick Kaler; outstanding architect and campaigner for the disabled Prof Patrick Nuttgens; chairman of York Civic Trust Dr John Shannon; former British Commonwealth and European super middleweight boxing champion Henry Wharton.

By a landslide victory, it was Joseph Rowntree who was voted Millennium Person of the Past while the title of Millennium Person of the Present went to Dame Judi Dench.

Joseph Rowntree, grocer and founder of the great confectionery firm of Rowntree's, was one of the most important modern benefactors of York. He was a philanthropist who joined his brother in a grocer's shop business in Walmgate, moved to Tanner's Moat, then Haxby Road, where he built what was known as "the factory in a garden".

While chairman of Rowntree's he introduced a works doctor and dentist, social helpers to help problems arising from "home life and circumstances", a widows' benefit fund during the First World War and one week's paid holiday per year.

Outside the factory, he built Yearsley swimming baths and presented Rowntree Park to the city; established three charitable trusts; and started work on New Earswick model village.

Joseph Rowntree polled nearly 40 per cent of the total votes in the category while second place went to his son Seebohm, who collected 20 per cent of the votes. In third place was George Hudson.

Dame Judi Dench was also an outright winner in the present-day category, polling nearly 42 per cent of the total. Second place went to Peter Gibson and third to Berwick Kaler.

Dame Judi was educated at Miss Meaby's School, Clifton, and The Mount School, before becoming an actress and director. She now lives in Surrey.

She has returned to York on many occasions and opened the new Rawcliffe Surgery and a new theatre in her name at St Peter's School. She has been the patron of York Against Cancer, the East and North Yorkshire Badger Protection Group and York Invicta Appeal.

Her first stage appearance was as an angel in the York Mystery Plays in 1951, the first cycle after their revival. She is currently joint president of York Millennium Mystery Plays. Dame Judi has received two BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress and this year won an Oscar, also as Best Supporting Actress, for Shakespeare In Love.

She is currently on the board of the Royal National Theatre. Earlier this year she was awarded a 'Tony' for her Broadway role in Amy's View.

When initially told she had reached the shortlist in York's Millennium awards, she said she was delighted at the honour and flattered to have been nominated.

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