Holding My Head in Despair

[T13A]

Hi

Just been watching 'Pointless' on the telebox. Regarding a question on WWII battles only 4 people out of a hundred asked had heard of the battle of Monte Cassino and not one had heard of the battle of Kohima.

Aarrrgh!!!! 

Paul

[hammurabi70]

Hi

Just been watching 'Pointless' on the telebox. Regarding a question on WWII battles only 4 people out of a hundred asked had heard of the battle of Monte Cassino and not one had heard of the battle of Kohima.

Aarrrgh!!!! 

Paul

Perhaps the moral of the story is not to spend time watching quiz shows on TV?  Al ways bad for the blood pressure; I never do.

[pierre the shy]

Yes agree 100% that the general publics knowledge of history and geography is not great and they should do better.

Not so much nowadays (thanks to the internet?) but occasionally in the past Kiwi's used to get a good laugh out of one of TVNZ's foreign correspondents standing on a street corner in (insert far away place here) and asking passers by "Where is NZ?"

Most answers seemed to involve us either being part of Australia or else being located somewhere off Alaska  

If your watching Pointless and its not the final question I guess you can look on the bright side as they added 250 quid to the jackpot.....if they got the pointless answer correct.......and Richard will say "very well done indeed if you said any of those pointless answers at home".      

[flamingpig0]

Yes agree 100% that the general publics knowledge of history and geography is not great and they should do better.

I always refer people to the women I worked with who believed the Chinese attacked  Pearl Harbour and the Russians used nuclear weapons against Japan.

[Ithoriel]

I have to ask what relevance you think knowledge of Monte Cassino and Kohima has to the lives of all but a tiny fraction of the human population.

We have a niche interest in a niche subject. Be grateful for the four who had heard of Monte Cassino.

[Matt J]

It's also a generational thing. My generation wouldn't know either unless they had an interest in military history even less so for those younger. For my kids the second world war may as well be Agincourt.
My mom on the other hand, brought up after the second world war would know both especially as my grandad served with the RAF in India.

[Heedless Horseman]

Hmm. I WAS going to 'bristle my 'tache' in indignation...but...had a think.
I have no idea who fought whom in many of the major battles in the Napoleonic period, (The French fought SOMEBODY, pretty obviously...but...  
Likewise, Ancients...The Greeks and the Romans DID enjoy a barney with anyone at hand...including Themselves!  
But, Who, Where, When is often 'out of MY niche. '  

One good thing about the current interest in 'Diversity', is that there are more TV prog's concerning battles in which Imperial/Colonial troops were vitally important..AND also  the supporting roles. You just have to ignore the 'slant' that is often put on things and remember the service.

Having said that, given the multi-racial involvement in Cassino and Kohima...I agree with the thread Title!    
But... for the young, the only 'shots' that interest, are the vile concoctions chucked down the neck to 'impress'.    Sheesh!, you would think they invented 'speed drinking'!  
(Having witnessed the effect of Vodka/Tequila 'Slammers', I will stick to getting smashed, slowly!  

[Norm]

I'm just so pleased they didn't ask a question on 1066 Hastings ...... the response may have been shocking!

but when all is said, if I was in the hot seat and asked a question on say ... football and you know how important that is, I would have to phone a friend :-)

anything harder than 'what shape is a ball' and I would just have to brave it out and say 'why, of course, Monte Cassino, there were 4 battles in total during early 1944, with a total loss to both sides of 75,000 casualties' and just hope that nobody notices.

[FierceKitty]

The Lead Medal in my experience goes to the US trainee I once had on my hands who didn't know who Louis Armstrong or George Washington were. And she wanted to be a teacher!

[Techno II]

I know I've told this tale before about one of 'my staff' in the figure painting unit at Workshop.

Everybody was busy painting when 'X' asked.

"Hitler, right......was he in the first World War ?"

"Yes, 'X'...he was a corporal."....Long pause.

"Oh......Was he in the second World War, as well ?"

Cheers - Phil.

[paulr]

I'm frustrated by the the lack of basic knowledge of the likes of Louis Armstrong, George Washington, Hitler, who nuked Japan...

I'm also amazed by how much various people, including us, know about subjects we are interested in

[Steve J]

Of the younger generation I worked with (those in their 20's now and early 30's) I can only say that from speaking to them their history curriculum was much less broad than when I was at secondary school in the 70's, so it is hard to blame them for lack of general history knowledge as they were simply not taught it. Also with emphasis on passing exams rather than learning, there was no opportunity to broaden one's education .

[Leman]

Quite right Steve. The National Curriculum, as far as history is concerned, might as well be called the Nationalist Curriculum (Politically Correct V3.6 ). Yes it covers topics like World War II, slavery, expansion of democracy etc. but very much from an ethno-centric point of view. Year 8 is the biggest joke - everything from the Wars of the Roses to the end of the C19th - farcical. At least that was the case up to my retirement in 2012. So those people are now in their early 20s through to their early 40s.

[T13A]

Hi

It was the fact was that people had never heard of them, given the anniversaries we have gone through over the last few years where both battles have been mentioned in the media (and frequently on days like remembrance day), that shocked/surprised me. I wasn't expecting people to know what happened there or even where they were for that matter.

Cheers Paul

[Orcs]

Yes, It appals me too. But it is very tied into what you're interested in. The conversation in our house often goes like this

Mrs Orcs:-  Did you see X (insert some author or classical musician)   has  Y (Y= died, has plague, been caught in-flagrante with a tortoise)
Orcs:-  Who ??
Mrs Orcs:-  Yes you do!
Orcs:- No I don't
Mrs Orcs :- But you must know him he is famous for.......
Orcs:- Do you know who Georgy Zhukov is? , or  Uylysses Grant ?
Mrs Orcs:- No  I don't
Orcs:- So you don't know two famous people who had a huge impact the way the world is today, but you expect me to know some classical pianist ?

This normally ends the conversation , but as Ithoriel says it is wha you consider interesting and important that makes up a lot of your general knowledge