[toybux]

I think we need to define famous better. If you define fame as "number of people who recognize the name", the answer is could be someone like Elvis or Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan or some other international cultural icon. It could also be Bush, but I'm not sure of the relative recognition. If you define fame in terms of how many people follow that person close enough to know things about them, then the answer is clearly George W. Bush. He is a huge topic of discussion almost anywhere in the world, and probably has nearly as high of name recognition as anyone else, period.

As for sports, I wouldn't be surprised if Beckham was on par with Jordan globally. Both are almost certainly miles ahead of Tiger Woods or even Shumacher.