This Little Britain | |||
How One Small Country Changed the Modern World | |||
To coincide with the release of This Little Britain: How One Small Country Changed the Modern World by Harry Bingham the following poll was commissioned. |
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The YouGov Poll Results | |||
In order to find out how much the British knew about their own
country, a survey by 'YouGov' was undertaken. |
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Research Summary / Key Facts | |||
Representative democracy: |
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YouGov's 'This Little Britain' survey of a sample of 2230 adults found that 10% of them knew that the first elections (in the sense that people elected their representatives by voting for them) in England took place in 1215. Much higher proportions thought that the first elections took place in 1689 (38%) or later in 1870 (32%). | |||
Spread of British democracy: |
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32% of respondents knew that of the nine countries that operated under a stable democracy throughout the 20th century, six of them were English speaking. 54% thought it was 4 countries or less. | |||
Torture: |
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Many judicial systems have relied on torture to extract confessions from those accused of a crime. Only 2% of respondents knew that it had become illegal in England 800 years ago. A total of 76% of respondents thought it became illegal in the last 200 years or less. | |||
Industrial Revolution: |
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Just 11% of those questioned knew that at the peak of the industrial revolution Britain produced twice as much coal and steel as the rest of the world put together. Far more (36%) thought they produced only as much as Europe put together. | |||
Agriculture: |
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7% of respondents knew that British farmers were three times more productive as French and German counterparts put together in 1800. | |||
Warfare: |
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Just under a quarter (24%) of respondents knew that the British Royal Navy was, at its peak, larger than all other navies in the world put together | |||
Invasion: |
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Just 1% of respondents knew that England had been successfully invaded (that is: the ruling government overthrown) 9 times since 1066. (The relevant dates are 1139, 1153, 1326, 1399, 1460, 1470, 1471, 1485, 1688). | |||
Science: |
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Just 12% of respondents (15% of men, 9% of women) knew that Britain has won as many Nobel Prizes in science as France, Russia, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, Australia, China, India, Africa and Latin America put together. | |||
Sport: |
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Just 6% of respondents knew that Baseball, Ice-Hockey, Lacrosse, Croquet and Downhill Skiing, are all British inventions | |||
Nigel - 14th October 2007 |
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Book Details | |||
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Column Ends | |||
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