Brits trip up on big feat knowledge - Study reveals we know more about reality TV than real British heroes - 21 February 2005
Knowledge of ‘Great Britons’ is in decline, new research suggests. The Yellow Pages survey reveals that the average adult has a greater recall of events from recent pop culture than of great British feats from history. The research was commissioned to coincide with the launch of ‘Little Feet, Big Feat’ – a national fundraising event in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.The research found that 18-24 year old telly addicts are more than twice as likely to correctly name Kerry Katona as the winning Queen of the Jungle in ‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here’ (65 per cent) and Craig Phillips as the first winner of Big Brother (69 per cent) than identify John Logie Baird as the man who invented television (30 per cent). In fact, 34 per cent of 18-24 year olds wrongly credited Alexander Graham Bell as TV’s inventor, while eight per cent attributed the feat to the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
‘Little Feet, Big Feat’ takes place on March 18 when more than 22,000 schoolchildren will be dressing up as their heroes to take part in a simultaneous sponsored walk in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. The event is part of Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal, supported by Yellow Pages, which runs throughout March.
Globetrotting Gaffes
While 29 per cent of 18-24 year olds can correctly name Sir Francis Drake as the first British person to sail around the world, more than one in three (36 per cent) wrongly attributed the feat to Dame Ellen MacArthur who completed the trip more than 400 years after Drake set sail. Only a third (30 per cent) of the same age group recognised Robert Scott as the first British explorer to reach the South Pole, with 28 per cent wrongly attributing the feat to Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Discovery Channels
When it comes to famous discoveries our historical know-how doesn’t fare much better. More than eight out of ten (82 per cent) 18-24 year olds know that Pop Idol is the programme that discovered Will Young, yet less than half (48 per cent) recognised Sir Alexander Fleming as the discoverer of penicillin. Amusingly a quarter of this age group (26 per cent) have their ‘Flemings’ shaken and stirred, crediting James Bond author, Ian Fleming, as the creator of the groundbreaking drug.
Girl Power Rules
Germaine Greer’s brief stint on Celebrity Big Brother may have worked wonders for the profile of women’s rights as more than three quarters (77 per cent) of Britons correctly named Emmeline Pankhurst as the founder of the Suffragette movement. A further 67 per cent knew that modern day ‘feminists’, the Spice Girls, were the girl band that scooped gongs for the Best British Single and Best British Video at the 1997 Brit Awards.
Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages directories, said: “The research shows that the younger generation is more knowledgeable about reality TV shows than real life historical feats. Hopefully the schoolchildren taking part in ‘Little Feet, Big Feat’ will shame their elders by throwing the spotlight on some of the great British heroes who are in danger of being forgotten, as well as supporting such a great cause.”
For more information on ‘Little Feet, Big Feat’ and to find out how your school can help Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal reach its £3 million fundraising target, visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil/schools or call the Marie Curie Cancer Care on 0800 716146.
Take the ‘Great British Feat’ test:
1. Who discovered penicillin?
2. On which reality music programme was Will Young discovered?
3. Who was the first British person to sail around the world?
4. Who was the first winner of Big Brother?
5. Who ate green ants, meal worms and cockroaches and went on to win Series Two of 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here'?
6. Which British explorer reached the closest point to the South Pole first?
7. Who invented the television?
8. Who founded the Suffragette movement and campaigned for women to have the right to vote?
9. Which all female group earned the most votes to win the Best British Single and Best British Video at the Brits in 1997?
