Insight into the nature conspiracy theories: "Winston Churchill didn't really exist."

[bje]

A fifth of British teenagers believe Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character, while many think Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur and Eleanor Rigby were real, a survey shows.

The canvass of 3,000 under-twenties uncovered an extraordinary paucity of basic historical knowledge that older generations take for granted.

Despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents dismissed the 12th-century crusading English king Richard the Lionheart as fictional.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) thought Florence Nightingale, the pioneering nurse who coaxed injured soldiers back to health in the Crimean War, was a mythical figure.

In contrast, a series of fictitious characters that have featured in British films and literature over the past few centuries were awarded real-life status.



Read the whole thing:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/04/nhistory104.xml

[Apollo20]

Well, the Winston Churchill on the radio during the war WAS a fictional character so to speak!

"Fight them on the beaches ......" ..... with phoney speeches indeed!

[mrbaracuda]

Read the whole thing
Thanks but no thanks. I'd rather not because I'm sure it would ruin my day and despise the youth these days even more :p

[Edx]

Oh man, and here I thought only America had kids this ignorent. Oh well.

[Corsair 115]

Well, the Winston Churchill on the radio during the war WAS a fictional character so to speak!

"Fight them on the beaches ......" ..... with phoney speeches indeed!Uh, what exactly are you getting at with the above? :confused:

[gumboot]

I wonder why it never occurs to the people conducting these polls that the youngsters are taking the piss and intentionally giving the wrong answers.

[Brainache]

Uh, what exactly are you getting at with the above? :confused:

I've heard about this before. Apparently some of Winnie's speeches were voiced by an actor for the radio because Winnie was a bit too busy hitting the Huns for six to get to the radio studio to make all of his addresses in person.

Sorry I don't have a source, just dim memory.

[twinstead]

Wow. So Winston Churchill was an actual person.

Hmm. Learn something new every day. ;)

[Apollo20]

Brainache:

Yes, it's true about Winnie's wartime speech double, but I don't have a reference to the details either....

As for other possible doubles: some say Hitler was the Duke of Clarence and Moses was in fact Hatshepsut!

Then there's the theory that Jesus was a magic mushroom!

[westprog]

I've heard about this before. Apparently some of Winnie's speeches were voiced by an actor for the radio because Winnie was a bit too busy hitting the Huns for six to get to the radio studio to make all of his addresses in person.

Sorry I don't have a source, just dim memory.

IIRC it was his House Of Commons speeches. Parliament wasn't broadcast at the time, so his speeches had to be read. I'm not sure whether the BBC actually claimed that it was Churchill speaking.

[Dave Rogers]

Brainache:

Yes, it's true about Winnie's wartime speech double, but I don't have a reference to the details either....

http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/Shelley/Shelley01.html
http://winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=295
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2000/oct/29/uknews.theobserver

For those who want to look into this one a little further. The Observer seems pretty certain, David Irving is thoroughly convinced (but that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong), but there doesn't appear to be any evidence that Norman Shelley's recording was ever broadcast with the claim that it was Churchill's voice, nor any that Churchill didn't originally give the speeches himself. What seems more likely is that Churchill didn't see any particular point in re-recording his own speeches for further dissemination, so an actor was used instead.

Then there's the theory that Jesus was a magic mushroom!

Some people have been eating too many Jesuses.

Dave

[Tolls]

http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/Shelley/Shelley01.html
http://winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=295
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2000/oct/29/uknews.theobserver


Oh phooey...took too long on the Googling front.
You stole my links, you swine <waves fist at screen>...

There's a bit more at this Churchill center link (http://winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=447) as well.

[JWideman]

I wonder why it never occurs to the people conducting these polls that the youngsters are taking the piss and intentionally giving the wrong answers.

I know! That's exactly what we did when I was a kid and I doubt things have changed at all. If someone asked you questions and you weren't getting some reward for being right, you got your own reward out of it.
That is why, to this day, I never ask a teenager for directions.