Monday, August 16, 2004
British can't tell Hollywood from history
Historical fact is being diluted by Hollywood fiction, with some young people believing Gandalf the wizard defeated the Spanish Armada, according to an article in the NZ Herald.
Almost half of 16- to 34-year-olds questioned in a BBC poll did not know that Sir Francis Drake led the English fleet against Spain. One in five 16- to 24-year-olds thought it was Columbus, and one in 20 said it was Gandalf, the wizard from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
The figures, released to mark the start of Battlefield Britain, were declared "really surprising" by history specialists. Campaigners for a return to a more traditional syllabus branded the results a "disgrace" for the state education system.
Showing the impact of Hollywood on history, 15 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that when Orangemen marched in Northern Ireland on July 12, they were celebrating victory at Helm's Deep, a battle at the end of The Two Towers, the second novel in Tolkien's trilogy.
Of the 1006 adults over the age of 16 who took part in the survey, only half of all age groups knew that the marches marked the Battle of the Boyne, in which the Protestant William of Orange defeated the troops of King James II in 1690.
Despite the blanket coverage in the media of the recent 60th anniversary of D-Day, a third of those polled and half of 16- to 34-year-olds did not know that the Battle of Britain took place during World War II.
The Roman occupation of Britain proved equally unmemorable, with one in five unaware that they had been here at all. One in 10 of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that the Germans had conquered Britain.
Sample poll question - Who defeated the Spanish Armada? a) Sir Francis Drake; b) Christopher Columbus; c) Gandalf the Grey
Historical fact is being diluted by Hollywood fiction, with some young people believing Gandalf the wizard defeated the Spanish Armada, according to an article in the NZ Herald.
Almost half of 16- to 34-year-olds questioned in a BBC poll did not know that Sir Francis Drake led the English fleet against Spain. One in five 16- to 24-year-olds thought it was Columbus, and one in 20 said it was Gandalf, the wizard from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
The figures, released to mark the start of Battlefield Britain, were declared "really surprising" by history specialists. Campaigners for a return to a more traditional syllabus branded the results a "disgrace" for the state education system.
Showing the impact of Hollywood on history, 15 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that when Orangemen marched in Northern Ireland on July 12, they were celebrating victory at Helm's Deep, a battle at the end of The Two Towers, the second novel in Tolkien's trilogy.
Of the 1006 adults over the age of 16 who took part in the survey, only half of all age groups knew that the marches marked the Battle of the Boyne, in which the Protestant William of Orange defeated the troops of King James II in 1690.
Despite the blanket coverage in the media of the recent 60th anniversary of D-Day, a third of those polled and half of 16- to 34-year-olds did not know that the Battle of Britain took place during World War II.
The Roman occupation of Britain proved equally unmemorable, with one in five unaware that they had been here at all. One in 10 of 16- to 24-year-olds thought that the Germans had conquered Britain.
Sample poll question - Who defeated the Spanish Armada? a) Sir Francis Drake; b) Christopher Columbus; c) Gandalf the Grey
