Trafalgar day

[tonywiltshire]

Today I mentioned it was Trafalgar day and was asked "what is trafalgar" I said "the day Nelson won the battle of Trafalgar" and was asked "who is Nelson".

Am I the only person who remembers Trafalgar in 1805?

[tonywiltshire]

History to my mind is, not only interesting; it is critical to understanding the world as it is, if you are interested. And yes j-t-p this means understanding what happened on the 21 October 1805.
I have had three children who were all taught History, but mainly what happened in the nineteenth century not a lot about anything else particularly the broad spectrum of Britain from say The Romans to the present day.

[Old_Geezer]

I'm not quite that old.

[Old_Geezer]

Should admit that I was quite old before I realised Trafalgar wasn't off our coast somewhere. It wasn't taught me atr school. English history lessons tended to stop with the Roman invasion, and the civil war.

[tonywiltshire]

In my experience not many people know where Trafalgar is.
But old_geezer a lot happened between the Roman invasion and the civil war.

[bazwillrun]

theyd rather teach them the history of africa, its more politically correct

[JonnyBoy12]

Some of us were not born then, tony. I sometimes feel that old but I am not really.

[boxtops]

Tony, when I was at school (until 1966) we learned from Ancient Britons onwards - interesting stuff I still remember - but we never learned anything beyond the turn of the 19th century. Our history teacher taught us about Stone Age, and fan vaulting - I still like architecture - but when it came to the early 19th C she was obsessed with Bismarck - "the Pilot who weathered the Storm" - I still remember that!

[Haggisdj]

Just found this on Trafalgar... very interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...h_ani_trafalgar.shtml

[Ankou]

is there a definitive list of 'top 10 things from history our children should really know' ?

when i was at school history was rubbish and dull, only as an adult i became more aware and informed.