Can You Believe it?

‘Cause apparently some British people can’t. Here at Get Your Book Red, I like to harp on the importance of reading. Things have probably always been a little grim for books and readers but times are apparently getting much worse. Or is it the schooling system that we have to blame? Often students are taught tests and not ideas or how to think. Nor, it seems, are they taught to read or retain information. Read here the the absolutely shocking statistics of a study conducted in England, found via Yahoo!:

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.

And no, I don’t think the participants were being flippant or sarcastic. Perhaps, though, they were just taking Lady Bracknell’s sound advice:

I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate, exotic fruit. Touch it, and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did it would prove a serious threat to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.