The most admired person of 2017 is the charity runner "Toon" of the Bodyslam rock band, followed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, an opinion survey has found.
Bangkok Poll conducted the face-to-face survey on 1,154 people nationwide during Dec 9-12 and released the results on Saturday.
On the open-ended question who the most admirable persons are, the respondents could name more than one person.
Leading the list with 83.5% was Artiwara "Toon" Kongmalai, the lead singer of the Bodyslam rock band, who started a 55-day, 2,191km North-South charity run on Nov 1. As of Saturday, he ran 2,087km and raised 986.3 million baht.
Trailing him at 11.1% was Gen Prayut, followed by Pavena Hongsakula, who chairs a namesake foundation for children and women (1.4%).
On the most popular news of the year, the participants chose from a predefined list from which they could pick more than one.
Topping the list were the reports on the royal cremation ceremony in October (92.5%), followed by the news on the progress of Toon’s charity run (82.3%), people paying respects to King Rama IX earlier in the year (78.1%), the mysterious death of pre-cadet Pakapong "Moei" Tanyakan in October (52.7%) and the dismemberment/murder of a karaoke worker in Khon Kaen in September (45.7%).
On the most outstanding sportsmen, the respondents could name anyone and the top five are: badminton player Ratchanok “May” Intanon (33.3%), footballer Chanathip “Jay” Songkrasin (22.5%), volleyball spiker Pleumjit Thinkaow (9.7%) and Ariya “May” Jutanugarn (3.7%).
The five most popular actors or male singers are actor Nadech Kugimiya (16.6%), actor Sukollawat “Weir” Kanarot (9.6%), actor/singer Thongchai “Bird” McIntyre (6.9%) and actor Teeradej “Kane” Wongpuapan (5.4%).
The five most popular actresses or female singers are actress Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund (17.4%), actress Patcharapa “Um” Chaichuea (12.5%), actress Davika “Mai” Hoorne (10.2%), lukthung singer Orathai “Tai” Dabkam (7.9%) and actress Natapohn “Taew” Tameeruks.