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Way to go England

Posted by pointlessbanter • 2/03/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic

I used to cringe when I would read surveys about how people can't point to Washington on a map or other things like this here in the US.

I have to thank England for letting me know that having complete idiots living amongst us is not just an american thing.... From yahoo.com news:

LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth.

And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist.

Three percent thought Charles Dickens, one of Britain's most famous writers, is a work of fiction himself.

Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi and Battle of Waterloo victor the Duke of Wellington also appeared in the top 10 of people thought to be myths.

Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

UKTV Gold television surveyed 3,000 people.

User Comments

2/03/08

crpitt

I am reporting this thread

[reply]
1. 2/03/08
  
  monkeytale
  
  lol
2. 2/03/08
  
  pointlessbanter
  
  Or you could call Sherlock Holmes to investigate it.
3. 2/03/08
  
  crpitt
  
  *looks at the book case full of his illustrious works, but cant find a number
4. 2/03/08
  
  pointlessbanter
  
  I think it is 867-5309... wait that is for Jenny
2/03/08

offendedblogger

Well you know it is America's fault.

Somehow. :/

[reply]
1. 2/03/08
  
  pointlessbanter
  
  I blame the tv show friends.
2. 2/03/08
  
  offendedblogger
  
  #$@! Ross and that monkey.
3. 2/03/08
  
  pointlessbanter
  
  Well when you have so many unemployed people living in such kick ass apartments you just know that it warps everyones values who watch.
2/03/08

bsd13

I'd be interested to know how old the average age of the respondent was. I'm going to go out on a limb and take a wild guess here, but I'm assuming they were teens to early 20s?

[reply]
1. 2/03/08
  
  pointlessbanter
  
  It was probably nine year olds... I wonder if we can find the original survey off of UKTV Gold's website.
2. 2/03/08
  
  offendedblogger
  
  I hate to say this, but I am almost sure they weren't all that young.
  
  Techfun and I were just discussing yesterday how many people in their 30's, if polled, would think Nicholas Sarkozy is the President of Russia.
2/03/08

crpitt

I think its the middle aged demographic.

[reply]
1. 2/03/08
  
  bsd13
  
  I would be shocked. I'm not having any luck finding the original survey. Anyone else?
2/03/08

clioandme

"I have to thank England for letting me know that having complete idiots living amongst us is not just an american thing" :-D

Time to go read some more foreign tabloids.

[reply]
2/04/08

Aprilfreelance

Granted that is pretty bad. But can they beat the beauty pageant contestant from South Carolina?

[reply]
2/04/08

acousticguitarist

But which 3000 people did they interview?

I went to town near where I live about 12 years ago, I was looking for directions to find a street, the town only has about 7 or 8 streets. I went into a corner shop in the main street and asked a lady what the name of the street was that we were on...and you know what, she had to look in the phone book to find out. Out of curiousity I asked how long she had lived in the town, she said "14 years". I reckon I could find 3000 people that have no idea about anything. But alas, I don't live in England, so it wouldn't be a valid result.

[reply]
2/04/08

GrimlyFiendish

They probably didn't mention ethnicity either. England is multi cultural, so asking a person who has recently emigrated from Poland or Nigeria will skew the results as well.

[reply]
2/04/08

crkian

Makes me proud to be English...

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  didn't you keep the good ones and we got the convicts?
2. 2/04/08
  
  crkian
  
  lol, isnt that how Australia became what it is today
3. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  No there were many other complexities to arrive at the solution we have come up with, but it was a minor factor that I would definitely take innto account as having an impact.
  
  Oh by the way, Wales beat you guys at the rugby with a Kiwi coach
4. 2/04/08
  
  crkian
  
  It was a bad second half. Considering Wales were expected to grab th wooden spoon this year.
2/04/08

Kiwipulse

[reply]
2/04/08

ThriftShopRomantic

"Charles Dickens was a fictional character"...

Somewhere my Victorian lit professor is hanging his head.

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  crpitt
  
  No Jenn! He was real.
  
  Silly
2. 2/04/08
  
  ThriftShopRomantic
  
  Well, you know it and I know it, but tell that to the 3,000 folks polled.
  
  Poor Chuck.
2/04/08

crkian

The thing is that wasnt outlined is that nearly all of this isn't covered in schools anymore.

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  Maybe if they put it in the Simpsons it might work, or are we talking about adults, and if we are, I'm dumbfounded? was Charles Dickens the bass player for Zeppelin? or was it XTC?
2/04/08

acousticguitarist

[reply]
2/04/08

lordlikely

Now I don't even know if I'm real or not.

I am so confused right now.

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  It's likely you're just a lot of ones and zeros, but if it makes you feel better there were quite a few programming languages at various levels to get you onto the screen, you're virtually real, but not quite.
2. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  We could give you an Indian name, what about Dahls Chickens, or are you not partial to Tandoori?
2/04/08

SomewhereElse

Being English and knowing enough English people, I would say that poll was pretty much rubbish and was given to immigrants or to people who watch soaps all day.

[reply]
2/04/08

legbamel

I don't think it should matter from where you hail, believing that Mahatma Gandhi, Charles Dickens, and Winston Churchill are fictional characters is sheer ignorance. We're not talking about obscure historical figures, here.

They should have asked about Mother Teresa, while they were at it. What about Richard Nixon? Dostoevsky? Mao Tse-Tung? Pope John Paul III? Ho Chi Minh? Vladimir Putin?

Thanks for posting this, pointlessbanter. It's good to know that idiocy and mental laziness are not confined to the US. I suspected that they were not but it's nice to have proof.

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  But what if they are not from that cultural background? There's a lot to catch up on. Not knowing Mahatma Ghandi I think is a bit of a prob, there rest of it is neither here nor there because it's relating to English speaking people and culturally specific. However, for some that is 50 born and bred in that culture not to know that information is a little bit of an issue. But if they are good, kind people it doesn't really matter, especially if they follow the right football team.
2/04/08

lordsomber

Lisa: "Dad, Sherlock Holmes was a character."
Homer: "He sure was, Lisa... He sure was..."

[reply]
2/04/08

clioandme

Do you think Jay Leno would find candidates for Jay Walking as easily as he does in LA?

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  ThriftShopRomantic
  
  No, I bet not.
  
  But no matter what the city, don't news-crews seem to find and get a "man-on-the-street" sound-byte from some serious local color?
  
  The opinionated housewife in hair curlers? The toothless elderly man in a dirty tank shirt?
  
  I imagine the survey wasn't done much more scientifically.
2. 2/04/08
  
  clioandme
  
  True. I see them going after that person on the street here in DC, and the reasoning behind it is always a little mysterious.
3. 2/04/08
  
  ThriftShopRomantic
  
  I know one reason we get those sorts of folks locally on the news-- they're the only ones who are HOME during the day when the reporters show up to a scene.
4. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  I was 'the man on the street once. I had been living in the country for a while, working on building guitars and playing music and generally minding my own business. I went to the city a thousand kilometres away. I was stopped in the street and asked a question by a radio reporter. The guy laughed at me because I didn't know the answer about a particular person, my response was ":who's that?' It turned out that he was talking about a local radio comedian of little value to me. It's easy to poll th wrong person or the right one. I could walk into a pub and ask "How many people drinkl beer everyday?', go home, throw the data into a computer and the result would be 97% of people drink everyday, then go to the yoga school t ask the same question, 100% say 'no' and 43% are not telling the truth.
5. 2/04/08
  
  bnsullivan
  
  Yes, Acoustic G. And that is EXACTLY why any serious poll/survey must also collect demographic data and what we researchers call "control variables" -- info on the respondent that can be used to filter out, or weight, answers from people who would not be expected to know as much about a topic -- as in your case, where you were not from the community where the question was asked.
  
  Still -- it always astonishes me what people do NOT know (and who does not know it).
2/04/08

kdawg68

This just shows you can find fools anywhere. It's not a statement on the UK by any stretch. So they found a sample size of 25% that don't know who Winston Churchill was (or thought he was a myth). I bet a more embarrasing # of our people wouldn't have a clue about F.D.R. Just saying is all.

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  i think the most common answer to that question in most places/countries would be a hip-hop band
2/04/08

lordlikely

Should this thread not be entitled 'Way to go Britain', as the article in question seems to refer to Britons as opposed to the English specifically.

Honestly. You Americans!

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  I love the Brits! Especially my friend Lord Likely.
2. 2/04/08
  
  lordlikely
  
  Bless you, my dear Theresa.
  
  I love everyone. Except that one chap. I hate him. You know the one. The one with the hair and that stupid tie. Yes, that one. He's an idiot.
  
  I love the rest of you, though.
3. 2/04/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  I looked to see which idiot you meant but couldn't make him out. Be more specific my lord.
2/04/08

bloggernoob

goes with my theory. english speakers are idiots. lol

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  If that is a truthful statement, please read it aloud, for I believe you have just called yourself an idiot. In the funny sense of the word, my banter with Lord Likely is always in jest.
2/04/08

bloggernoob

yes i am theresa. damn proud too. that's the american way! *blurp*

[reply]
1. 2/04/08
  
  Theresa111
  
  What's a blurp? American slang? A new word perchance? How did you decide upon your name bloggernoob? Are you a baby? I cannot help asking because you only appear to be about six months old.