In It To Win It...

[janzman]

....Question...When was the Battle of Britain..1918....1940...1945...

answer...1945

This level of ignorance is truly frightening. The young will have no knowledge of even the most recent of our history.

[Old_Geezer]

If my schooling is typical, the most recent history is the least likely to be covered. I only knew the answer because I knew it was part of WWII and could therefore work it out.

[grumpy01]

On the contrary OG I think World War 2 is one of the most covered topics in GCSE history.Also what about Margaret, she didn't even know a Linnet was a bird.I said to my Wife if Dale had asked her name she wouldn't have known.Also wonder if it is fixed that the same people keep coming over when they realise they don't know much and therefore the prize pot will be lower.

[Baldric]

I was in School mid 50's - mid 60's the two WW's never got a mention.

[Prudie]

I was in grammar school mid 60s on and neither of the wars were ever covered. Anything I know about the world wars was picked up from films or documentaries.

[grumpy01]

I find that hard to believe Baldric.

[paddywak]

So was I baldric and the wars were still close enough for us to know people who had served,so we didn't really need to be tought about it.

[tonyav]

I learned quite a bit about the battle of Britain ( as did most of the pupils at my secondary school ) from our deputy headmaster, he was a Spitfire pilot during WW2. He used to cover for absent teachers, we only had to ask him a question about the war ( especially the battle of Britain ) and then the lesson became a question and answer session about the war.

[Cloverjo]

I'm sorry to say that I didn't know for sure. I knew it was ww2 but that's all. My history education at school was abysmal. One history teacher told us about his childhood in Wales, the other made us copy out of textbooks. I'm in my 40s, so this lack of knowledge isn't necessarily a new thing.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't think that the world wars were considered far enough in the past to qualify as history when I was at school. Darned near current events :-)

[chrissa1]

I find it hard to believe too, Baldric. I was born in 1950 therefore went to school, Mid fifties to end of sixties. My father served in WW11 and I can't believe nothing was taught about it so soon, after it finished.

[jourdain2]

Like Chrissa, no-one ever mentioned the war properly - although my Mum did show me a picture of them with 2 German POWs they had befriended and I knew that the road by our house had been built by POW's. It sort of all came together gradually. When I studied History at school - it ended at the build-up to WW1.

I put it all together myself - there was the 'Dambusters' theme on Children's Favourites (or whatever it was called) and lots and lots of old films and then there was reading

When teaching History in the 1990s both WW1 and WW2 were covered, but WW2 was mainly taught in the GCSE course - so it was quite possible that anyone (majority) not taking History GCSE would not know a thing about it.

I put it together myself from radio, films and reading.

[Gromit]

70 years ago, isn't the most recent of our history. A lot has happened since then.

And if you are so clever, you might work out that IITWI is not Mastermind. The Programme is not a test of intellect, but a piece of entertainment. If you didn't like it put the 'Yesterday' channel on and another war documentary.

[david small]

Schooling 50s to mid 60s. Wars never mentioned apart from teachers anecdotes. I made a point of researching both wars myself. Amazing the disinclination to explain to students the vital history of our struggles.

[Postdog]

Baldric is right, but then again it was so close to the end of the war, everybody learnt about it through real life.

[Zacs-Master]

Exactly who's answer was this?

[Jackdaw33]

When I was at school (1960 - 1966) History stopped short in 1914.

[Buenchico]

When I was at school, 'History' ended with Gladstone & Disraeli.

[tonyav]

Same for me to, Chris. I knew more about the battle of Hastings and the war of the roses, except for what we could glean from our deputy headmaster about his experiences as a Spitfire pilot.

[Buenchico]

PS: With the exception of brief mentions of anti-slavery legislation and Victorian social reforms, 'History' was exclusively about rich and powerful men. Women, and 'the common people', were totally excluded from the subject.

[Buenchico]

Hi Tony.

We actually did a lot about the First World War in 'English' - but that was only because our newly-qualified English teacher had just done his uni thesis on the literature of the Great War!