Quarter of Brits think Churchill was a myth...

Max_Damage · 05-02-2008 7:33pm #1

I guess it's not just the Americans that are perceived as being idiots. It doesn't really surprise me given the crap that the general public are being fed with through the media (i.e. Big Brother, etc.)

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.
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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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080204/od_afp/britainpeoplehistoryoffbeat

MrJoeSoap · 05-02-2008 7:35pm

"UKTV Gold television surveyed 3,000 people."

Sounds like a quality survey to me.

mikemac · 05-02-2008 7:38pm

Meh, I though Sweeny Todd as in the Johnny Depp film was an actual person but I learned on Sunday he was a work of fiction. Good film though!

Calling me a fool OP? :mad:

Max_Damage · 05-02-2008 7:41pm

micmclo wrote: »

Meh, I though Sweeny Todd as in the Johnny Depp film was an actual person but I learned on Sunday he was a work of fiction. Good film though!

Calling me a fool OP? :mad:

Yes, yes I am.

MrJoeSoap · 05-02-2008 7:42pm

micmclo wrote: »

Meh, I though Sweeny Todd as in the Johnny Depp film was an actual person but I learned on Sunday he was a work of fiction. Good film though!

Calling me a fool OP? :mad:

I reckon thinking that one of your countries most important ever figures was a fictional character is much worse than thinking a fictional character was actually real.

connundrum · 05-02-2008 7:44pm

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

"UKTV Gold television surveyed 3,000 people."

Sounds like a quality survey to me.

There is something stupidly low like 100 or 1000 people needed before a survey can actually be published. They should push that number up to 10,000 to get a more accurate figure.

I wonder if they were asked whether J.C was real

Overheal · 05-02-2008 7:48pm

how many americans did you survey to label them all as leprachaun hunting tourists?

Terry · 05-02-2008 8:09pm

Overheal · 05-02-2008 8:26pm

Thats the exact number I thought you were going to say ironically.

watna · 05-02-2008 8:30pm

Meh, UKTV... I'm not too surprised, tbh! I wish Sherlock Holmes was real though. He's awesome.

Overheal, aren't you supposed to be doing course work? I told you I'd be watching!

Dennis the Stone · 05-02-2008 8:44pm

I wish Sherlock Holmes was real though. He's awesome.

someone after my own heart

05-02-2008 8:59pm

Wasn't there some sort of debate for years over whether or not Robin Hood actually lived?

rubadub · 05-02-2008 9:21pm

I expect many were taking the piss or answering the people asking sarcastically, since they were such stupid questions.

randylonghorn · 05-02-2008 9:28pm

Overheal wrote: »

how many americans did you survey to label them all as leprachaun hunting tourists?

Pfft ... just you!

In fairness, 3,000 for an "entertainment" type survey seems like a reasonable figure ...

So ... are the following Irish figures real or fictional (without resorting to Google, etc.) ?

St. Patrick
St. Brigit
Fiach McHugh
Fionn McCool
Granuaile
Caitlin Ni Houlihan
Tar.Aldarion

robinph · 05-02-2008 9:29pm

Ask a bunch of stupid people a set of stupid questions and you'll get a stupid answer. Those questions that they published the results for were probably hidden amongst a bunch of other ones such as "does the easter bunny/ tooth fairy/ Santa exist?" and then that persuades people to give stupid answers to the questions they were looking to get stupid answers to.

If the same survey had been done in Ireland with different Irish real people added in in place of Churchill etc then you'd get the same stupid results.

randylonghorn wrote: »

So ... are the following Irish figures real or fictional (without resorting to Google, etc.) ?

St. Patrick / St. Brigit

Didn't realise he had an alias.

randylonghorn · 05-02-2008 9:49pm

robinph wrote: »

Didn't realise he had an alias.

Lol ... fixed for those who choose to read it that way!

I grouped them because much of the same issues apply.

And actually now that you mention it ... oh, well, let's not open up that can of worms!

Fratton Fred · 05-02-2008 10:17pm

people actually write to Sherlock Holmes. There is no 221b but 221 used to be a branch of Nationwide Building society and they used to have to employ someone to handle all his letters.