Gransnet forums

Chat

Dumb Britain?

(79 Posts)
Greatnan Tue 27-Nov-12 18:34:32

People regularly apply for jobs at the pubs in the soaps. What surprises me is that people enter quizzes, such as Eggheads, with such a paucity of general knowledge one wonders how they have got through life so far.
How lovely it is to watch University Challenge and Mastermind and be reminded that there are still plenty of people in Britain with a wealth of knowledge, and some of them are very young.

janeainsworth Tue 27-Nov-12 18:30:53

My DD (a teacher) told me she was discussing reality TV with her yr 9 class and asked them to come up with examples. They did get Big Brother but also included Eastenders, Corrie and Emmerdale.

absentgrana Tue 27-Nov-12 16:02:35

There was an instance on the US version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? when, in answer to the question "What is President George W. Bush's first name?" the contestant answered "Henry". And I am sure anyone who saw it in the UK will remember the contestant whose question concerned the Archbishop of Canterbury and, even though she had phoned a friend who had suggested that Primate was the right answer, opted for marsupial. In our family, the archbish is now always referred to as the Marsupial of All England.

Greatnan Tue 27-Nov-12 15:57:31

Answers from young people who think they can win a general knowledge quiz:
Q. Which Katherine was Henry VIII's first wife.
A. Katherine Boleyn. Second A: Katherine Parr.

Q. What do you call the branch of mathematics dealing with the sides and angles of triangles.
A. Pythagoras's Theorem.