Aardy R. DeVarque (aardy) wrote,
Aardy R. DeVarque
aardy
  • Mood: amused

"You killed Mozart!"

With all the polls out there demonstrating how lousy the average American's knowledge is of history, geography, or anything else school-related, I was mildly entertained when I caught a reference on Countdown with Keith Olberman to a recent poll of British people including the results:

65% think King Arthur really existed
58% think Sherlock Holmes really existed
51% think Robin Hood really existed
47% think the Eleanor Rigby of the Beatles song really existed
47% think King Richard the Lionheart is fictional
27% think Florence Nightengale is fictional
23% think Winston Churchill is fictional

Now admittedly, there are scholars out there who posit various real-life origins for King Arthur and Robin Hood, so there's some wiggle room for confusion on those two, but otherwise, I have to wonder how many of these people are like the kid in Last Action Hero and think F. Murray Abraham (or Antonio Salieri for that matter) killed Mozart.


Feudalism: Serf & Turf
Tags: history, humor
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