11 Plus Exams Forum

Royal Mail commissioned a study to see how many people could identify Winston Churchill. The results:

1 in 5 adults could not recognise him

1 in 3 of 25 - 34 year old could not recognise him

Nearly half of 16 - 24 could not recognise him.

Some confused him with Stephen Fry!!

If this continues then no one will recognise him by 2090!!

I'm lost for words (which doesn't happen very often

that's easy, isn;t he the dog from the car insurance ads?

yoyo123 wrote:that's easy, isn;t he the dog from the car insurance ads?

Ooohh yes !

Sorry bromley mum...couldn't resist

Worrying considering they "do" WW2 about eight times at various stages of school!

Mike

mike1880 wrote:Worrying considering they "do" WW2 about eight times at various stages of school!

More worryingly - he appeared in an episode of Dr Who a couple of weeks back

bromley mum wrote: Some confused him with Stephen Fry!!

As with many news stories about surveys that generate surprising results, it was probably multiple choice. So it wasn't necessarily that lots of people confuse the two, but that if they don't know, they just opt for one of the limited number of choices.

I'm amazed at what I consider to be standard British history, learnt from school, parents, books, telly etc, and yet some people have absolutely no idea and don't care where they come from or where they live, only being interested in what's on Emmerdale/'Stenders/ Corrie etc.

A good friend of mine, a TA in local primary school asked me if I'd heard of some bloke called Oliver Cromwell?

Er, yes, of course, says I.

Well, was he a goody or a baddy?

Erm, depends what strata of social hierarchy one was in, a peasant or aristo, continues moi, and launched into a short guide to the Divine Right of Kings, the civil war, Parliament etc

How do you know all that stuff? was the stunned reply, and yet I was just as stunned that she didn't know about such an important part of history.

Thankfully her teenage daughter loves history and adores wandering around stately homes and castles, much to the chagrin of her mother!

ipp,

Although I know about Oliver Cromwell, I am to say that I am one of those whose knowledge is sadly lacking. I am improving all the time, but having spent 6 years elsewhere (8-14) I was taught the history of that country. Even worse, I can't remember a single thing!

Loved history when I returned to England. It was so interesting learning about the French and Russian Revolutions and when told that we would be learning about yet another revolution I felt the usual stirrings of anticipation ... it took till the end of the Agrarian Revolution for it to dawn on me that there would be no heads stuck on poles and no poisoning of some Russian monk with a dodgy reputation. (Yes, I was rather slow - not even the explanation that revolution could also mean change helped with the dropping of the proverbial penny.) I really can't believe that the only formal teaching I have had with regard to British history involved imo the most boring stuff ever!! (Sorry all you diehard spinning jenny enthusiasts.)

Btw, I love soaps, but I promise you they are not responsible for my ignorance.

always surprises me that people know so little about such a milestone in British history. KS2 jumps from Tudors to Victorians..

yet we talk about the mother of parliaments , which only came about because of Cromwellian government and the aftermath