Pointless Yesterday..

[janzman]

..did anyone catch the round on The Battle of Waterloo...
In which country is the village of Waterloo.....England
What is the date of the Battle of Waterloo......1500s

Contestant didnt try for who commanded the English armies or who was defeated (I cant remember question 5)

I find it astonishing that this historical event was obviously not taught to the young man and even more surprising is that he has never come across it in his entire life....I was secretly waiting for the answer, Abba.

[Svejk]

I've seen people on University Challenge being 3/4/500 years out on history questions. As has been said, you'd expect people to 'guess' within 1 century.

[murraymints]

the level of general knowledge particularly in

[jno]

you might if they'd actually studied history. But like OG, maybe they gave it up to study science/English/Latin or some other option. In my case I took history instead of physics - which means I can't answer even the most basic physics question. I'm not uneducated. But I'm uneducated in physics.

[Svejk]

I only learnt to read and write (after a fashion) in school, but you're more likely to come across, and take an interest, in art, music, literature and history than physics/mathematical equations, don't you think?
Of course, most of those students are very young to have had time to 'pick those things up'. On the whole, they're very impressive.

[jourdain2]

Well, I take History as a very important subject (how do you know where you have come from without it?). I am amazed - and hugely saddened (but not, for some reason, surprised) at this level of ignorance.