BBCi users, along with BBC South Today viewers and BBC local radio listeners have voted Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the Greatest Southerner.

Around 10,000 people took part in the poll which saw the Portsmouth-born Victorian engineer beat John Pounds and Florence Nightingale to the title.

The people of Portsmouth have been celebrating the recognition given to one of the city's most famous sons.

Bridge building lessons

Although he died at the age of 53, his legacy is still felt across the city. The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Junior School holds an annual bridge building competition for the children - using the memory of the Victorian engineer to inspire engineers of the 21st century.

Head teacher Llyn Codling said: "He's an inspiration, not only in engineering terms, but also in persiverance and not giving up - the sort of values we want to teach the children."

Although his birthplace has been demolished, local campaigners have been keeping his memory alive. Historian, Brian Patterson said: "He made England what it is."

Brunel was born in Portsmouth in 1806, into an already distinguished industrial family - his father, Marc Isambard Brunel, built the first ever production line in Portsmouth's dockyard and was a pioneering tunnel builder.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

After his work on the Thames Tunnel, Brunel planned the Clifton Suspension Bridge, over the River Avon, which was completed posthumously in 1864.

With John Scott Russell, he was responsible for the design of the Great Britain, the first steamship ever to cross the Atlantic. He is probably best remembered for the network of tunnels, bridges and viaducts for the Great Western Railway from 1833.

Read about the other Great Southerner nominees.