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Quarter of Brits think Churchill was myth: poll
I just found this at Memeorandum, and decided to post the entire article:
Quarter of Brits think Churchill was myth: poll
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.
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.
Gina Cobb comments,
It’s frightening when gaps in basic knowledge become this great. How could any adult not know how England held on, rallied, and prevailed in World War II? How could the story of World War II be understood without knowing of this man, who warned of the threat posed by Adolph Hitler, was ignored until after the threat became real, and then fought against difficult odds for Britain’s very survival?
How? By lapsing into post-modern, politically-correct curricula where anything Western is devalued, by getting rid of civics learning, by making people believe that patriotism is immoral, by insisting that students “feel good” rather than adhere to rigorous standards, and by a myriad other ways.
Mankind’s natural inclination is to remain comfortably stupid. Real learning takes real work. Real learning in Western societies also has to be guided by humanistic and Judeo-Christian values because those are the values on which they are founded.
Kim at Wizbang links to Betsy’s post from last summer describing how the Brits have destroyed their history curriculum.
Gina also links to this article, Muslim schools to conduct own inspections
In a controversial move, they have won the right to appoint their own Ofsted-style inspectors. A new independent watchdog has been set up to be more “sensitive” toward Islamic education.
The decision comes despite concerns some private Muslim schools are already failing to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.
Of course this raises concerns, which appear to go ignored:
Barry Sheerman, the chairman of the Commons schools select committee, told MPs last month local councils were finding it “difficult to know what is going on in some faith schools – particularly Muslim schools”.
Britain is facing home-grown terrorists and is possibly opening the door to homegrown, self-supervised madrassas, all in the interest of “helping to promote integration”. I can not fathom what logic process the British bureaucrats used to arrive at that conclusion.
How ironic that Sir Winston Churchill was awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values”.
UPDATE
The Telegraph article states that the survey asked 3,000 Brits in their teens. Considering how the history curriculum was destroyed, this is not surprising.
Tea and Mma Ramotswe
I have enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith‘s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency book series for several years, and just finished reading the latest installment, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive.
Smith’s love of his characters and his deep affection for Botswana are palpable in each installment of the series. His characters respect and love each other deeply, and strive to lead lives of purpose and decency. To build an entire series of books based on these values while at the same time bringing humor and insightful commentary on the human condition and holding his readers’ hearts is a remarkable accomplishment, yet, he succeeds again and again.
In The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, the traditionally-built Mma Ramotswe, her excellent husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and their clients struggle to find the truth about a possible series of murders, and about a difficult marriage. At the same time, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s apprentice Charlie, and Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramotswe’s right-hand woman, travel down different paths.
Mma Makutsi, who wears glasses and is as fond of shoes as I am, has a moment of insight (page 104),
She looked down at the broken shoe on her lap. It was such a sad thing, that shoe, like a body from which the life had gone. She stared at it. Almost challenging it to reproach her. But it did not, and all she heard, she thought, was a strangled voice which said, Narrow escape, Boss. You were walking in the wrong direction, you know. We shoes understand these things..
And now, for the tea
Mma Makutsi’s fond of Indian tea, while Mma Ramotswe loves bush tea.
I like coffee in the morning, but tea in the afternoon.
The owner of the b&B where I stayed the first time I went to England taught me how to make tea:
In a teakettle, boil the water. Use freshly drawn water. When water is re-boiled, or stands for a while, it loses oxygen which prevents the full flavor of the tea being released.
Once the water boils, warm the teapot by swirling some of the boiling water in it. Pour out that water, and add 1 teaspoon of loose tea for each person, and one for the pot (I prefer to use a large tea ball so I can remove all the tea after it steeps. If you use a tea ball, make sure it remains less than half-full). Add boiling water.
Let the loose tea steep for 3-5 minutes. Stir and serve. I like my tea “black”, with no milk, and no sugar. Sometimes a slice of fresh lemon is nice.
Here’s where you can get the materials:
You can find a selection of fine loose teas basically everywhere.
The Chef’s Choice teakettle turns itself off once the water boils, is cordless (the heating plate remains puggled), and keeps the water warm for cocoa:
We have had nearly every brand of teakettle by now and this one is worth it.
The Brown Betty teapot is the traditional English teapot:
Here’s a nice tea ball:
and a mesh one:
While serving the tea in a porcelain cup and matching saucer is nice, ceramic mugs and hot tea glasses are good, too. Remember to pour the tea on a silver spoon in the tea glass to absorb some of the heat in order to avoid cracking the glass (the tea glasses also should not feel cold to the touch). I don’t like drinking tea out of plastic.
I like buttered toast with my tea, and maybe a Pepperidge Farm sugar-free Milano cookie. Serve some for a friend, or sit on the porch and enjoy some of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels.
Enjoy!
Anything to avoid homework: Lileks, 24, and shoes
I’ve been auditing a class on heroic literature, but I’m finding it hard to concentrate on the current reading, The Saga of Grettir the Strong. A lot of it has to do with the characters’ names, for instance,
There was a man named Onund. He was the son of Ofeig Hobbler, whose father was Ivar Horse-Cock.
I can only imagine what Ivar the little Viking had to put up with when he was in grade school. Obviously he didn’t pass his condition to his progeny.*
While I was avoiding reading up on homework, I came across this: Maintain a firm grip on the book at all times, and use your pectoral muscles to keep firm inward pressure on the book. If I ever do that, Janet-my-personal-trainer will probably recruit me to work at the gym.
No, I haven’t gone back for aerobic yoga, thanks.
As I mentioned in my first Blog Talk Radio podcast, I love Lileks’s writing, and today he’s in fine shape, managing to come up with a McCoy Freakout Scale, a creepy shoe poster about Foot Health, and 24.
Lileks is Da Man.
This season of 24 has a couple of things that have me distracted: I keep waiting for Vice-President Tolliver to break into profanity. The Whispering President’s whispering is annoying; it’s a nuclear crisis, for Pete’s sake, raise your voice! And I wish they’d have more of the crazy First Lady – set her loose and sic her to the terrorists. They’d saw off their other arms just to get away from her.
I’ve been a loyal 24 fan for three years now, but this season’s not as fun as the others. After pondering the reason why, I finally realized,
Anyway, on the subject of shoes, The Husband will tell you I’m big on shoes. While I was at CPAC I decided that I needed a pair of walking shoes that feel like sneakers but look dressy enough to wear with skirts. They’d have to have a lot of cushioning, feel comfortable, and have some sort of ankle strap so the shoes don’t flop around because of my narrow heels.
This afternoon I found them at Ricchard’s downtown,
If you are considering them, try the next half size up from your usual.
I know, Hush Puppies are for little old ladies, and mary janes aren’t really my style, but I can walk all day in these.
I got them in black. They go well with my pocketbook.
Now I better go finish reading up what William Morris had to say about Grittir.
(*) The Morris translation starts with,
There was a man named Onund, who was the son of Ufeigh Clubfoot, the son of Ivar the Smiter
Oh, those Victorians…
Technorati tags: shoes, 24, William Morris
First, no-go areas in France, now, no-go areas in Holland
Utrecht Riots: Neighbourhood Closed Off
The Dutch police deny that the police officer who killed Rinie Mulder is of Moroccan or Turkish descent. Esther, a Dutch blogger, refers to a post on a Moroccan website saying the police officer is Turkish, not Moroccan. The post has, however, been removed. Yesterday, we reported, relying on sources in Ondiep, that the officer was a Moroccan woman.
Crickets chirping at Google News and Beeb
Klein Verzet (h/t No Pasaran) has a post on the second night of serious riots in Utrecht:
But unlike the Paris riots, the rioters are not Muslims. The rioters are all native Dutch. Just like the Dutch man shot by the police. So what is going on? Dutch national media is very, very silent about the reasons for the shooting and seems to suggest that the riots are just the work of football hooligans.
Go read the rest, and follow their links.
Update: At Islam in Europe, Utrecht: Ondiep roundup
Richard catches a demonstration and ponders the EU.
Bad habit: ZAPATERO SURRENDERED AGAIN
Terrorists Proving Harder to Profile
European Officials Say Traits of Suspected Islamic Extremists Are Constantly Shifting
European authorities said the trait patterns of those arrested on terrorism charges are constantly shifting. In the Netherlands, officials said they are seeing an increase in the number of young teenagers and people of Turkish descent, two groups that used to be low on their radar. Among the key players in the Hofstad group, a cell of Islamic radicals that targeted Dutch politicians and cultural figures, was Jason Walters, the teenage son of a U.S. soldier.
Chirac’s retiring and the French are upset that the American news venues aren’t carrying this as a top story as they have – L’Escroc has been France2’s top story for the last 2 days. As underwhelmed as I am by all this, I recommend Nidra Poller‘s article on Chirac’s carreer.
He gets to keep ‘ees lunch money, too.
Meanwhile, A Moderate Male Chauvinist gets stopped at the airport. Said male chauvinist has been banned from the USA for his contextually explicable (his words, not mine) positions on stoning women to death and the killing of innocent children.
In lighter news,
Literati celeb feud of the day: Vargas Llosa gave Garcia Marquez black eye in 1976 (h/t Iberian Notes).
Dr John Fleming talks about the Middle Ages and the modern world, part 3
F And the character really makes you think as a reader what your beliefs are, too. I thought that was one of the better Tales. However, reading the Canterbury Tales, I was very impressed that there was so much money that people could actually forego earnings and go on pilgrimages. The Wife of Bath basically spent her life travelling from one pigrimage to another.
JF: Well, Fausta, the Wife of Bath was very rich because she had, unlike you and other nice girls, married very strategically. She had married, if you remember, a series of old geezers who were quite rich and who conveniently died right away -with her help, probably, I wouldn’t want to be married to the Wife of Bath, but she had inherited a lot of property. If you remember, the husband she loves most and has the knock-down, dragged-out fight with, when they have the slogging match she says, “Oh, it’s for my land that you have murdered me”. He obviously owns some possessions.
It’s quite true. I think people did impoverish themselves sometimes to go on pilgrimages. It is thought by some economic historians that one of the problems with the Medieval economy was that there were so many people who were, in effect, non-producers, either living in religious houses, hermits, or as you say wondering around all the time.
But Medieval poverty was different from modern poverty. Look at St Francis: he founded his order on the concept of what he called evangelical poverty, because in his readings of the Scripture Christ was a very poor man who, according to his interpretation, owned absolutely nothing at all. So that poverty which was voluntary was a theological virtue. What we call poverty, which of course is poverty, is a terrible social disaster. There were such people too, in the Middle Ages, but they were thought of as the absolutely necessary recipients of social charity. This is what the word hospital actually means: a place where you provide hospitality to a traveler, a pilgrim, a poor person, a sick person even, and that’s how the word came to its meaning today.
F: [That’s] interesting about the number of non-productive people because you tend to think that a monastery would come to be a place of industry of some sort just because they had to support so many people.
JF: Many of them were, but the problem is that it doesn’t take very long for idealism to crash up against the rocks of social reality.
We see this in monastic history all the time, that is to say, you get a religious reformer, this is very brilliantly exemplified by the rise of the Cistercian order – with whom we associate St Bernard and other famous saints in the 12th Century. These guys moved out into the deep countryside because they didn’t want to be around. They wanted to get away from snares and delusions of the world. Rich landowners often gave them land that they thought was without value, not good agricultural land out in the wilderness. Then in the 13th Century, particularly in England, there’s a tremendous development of the wool trade, textiles, now, wool is made from sheep, sheep like to eat grass, so that these vast holdings, and some of the monasteries are now very valuable property. And suddenly they’re rich people and they start out to be professional paupers and end up as rich people just like the people they’re trying to get away from.
Nothing fails, Fausta, like success.
F: So is that what the Middle Ages teach us?
JF: Well, that’s certainly not the final thing it teaches. The Middle Ages has, what I find, incredible, and in many ways, admirable cultural coherence. But of course it does that at the expense of other values that in our age we’ve come to appreciate much more greatly, so-called multicultural values. The values of actual cultural, religious, intellectual diversity.
This is a big problem with culture altogether. The tension between that core commonality that holds people together and the danger that that very commonality can turn into a source of discord or ethnic strife, whatever it may be, the stuff we see every day in the front pages of the New York Times.
F: Thank you very much Dr. Fleming.
Copyright 2007 Fausta Wertz, John Fleming
John V. Fleming is the author of