Alan Tucker Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 In tonight's programme 54 out of 100 people could not name 1918 as the end of the First World War. Also 81 could not give the year of D-Day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Dragoon Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 Ok ..i know we all have a more than average interest in these dates but for goodness sake !!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madgarry Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 How very sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 In tonight's programme 54 out of 100 people could not name 1918 as the end of the First World War. Also 81 could not give the year of D-Day? Perhaps they were all very clever and gave the correct date as 1919. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 Seems to me history, both old and modern is a thing of the past in school teaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 I said to my wife that it could be a trick question as technically the war did not end until mid 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed, and although she knows next to nothing about the subject, (other that what she has picked up trailing behind me on various trips to the WF)she just laughed at me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayessex Posted 12 December , 2011 Share Posted 12 December , 2011 Seems to me history, both old and modern is a thing of the past in school teaching. Ha Ha. Very Good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 I am always curious as to how and in what area they "select" the 100 people they ask to formulate the question(s) and what age group(s) they are. Has a distinct bearing on the questions asked on the programme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Would be most interesting to see the responses, from a socio-thinggy point of view if a 100 customers each were asked the same questions at Poundland Wrexham, and Waitrose Chelsea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 At least on Pointless (where they do state 'we gave 100 people 100 seconds to name..') they seem to avoid the cross-eyeds they must have polled for 'Family Fortunes' e.g. 'Name a Shakespeare play with a person's name in it' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' 'Name a number you have to memorise' '7' There was a contestant on Mastermind last Friday whose specialist subject was 'Montgomery' - he got a couple I couldn't remember in time, but I ended up a point ahead of him at the end, even thought he got a high score... and I do not profess to be a Monty specialist. Discuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Ah, Family Fortunes...one contestant was asked to "Name a dangerous race". Reply, "The Arabs". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithmroberts Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 This thread leaves me quite depressed. It moved me to look up this quotation "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." from a chap called Henry Mencken. Sadly I think it applies across the world. I still recall the mob, not many miles from my home who were ready to attack the home of a person they suspected of interfering with children because the nameplate included the word "paediatrician". Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 There was a contestant on Mastermind last Friday whose specialist subject was 'Montgomery' - he got a couple I couldn't remember in time, but I ended up a point ahead of him at the end, even thought he got a high score... and I do not profess to be a Monty specialist. Discuss. I suspect the "expert" questions on Mastermind are posted at a reasonable level. I remember, a few years ago, outscoring a chap who did WW2 fighter aircratf, about which I would not profess to being an expert, and a chap who did Passchendaele (IIRC) recently was also outscored, apparently, by many on this Forum. As for the original post, I'm quite impressed that 46% of the population (on this analysis) could give the date. I'd have suspected it would be a lower number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 On 'Mastermind' there is apparently more of a chance getting on if you choose an 'odd' specialist subject. When did you last see someone answering on Shakespeare for example? Difficulty is in the eye of the beholder. I once scored more than a person who did 'classic radio comedy'. My companion expressed amazement. However when I pointed out that there was at the time really only one book on the topic, written by Barry Took, which I had read, and that at the end of the show the credits revealed that the said Barry Took had set the questions, it wasn't so surprising. According to legend an expert on Franz Liszt very nearly managed to answer questions he himself had set after the BBC had approached the Liszt Society, of which he of course was a leading member. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul@bolton Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Don't feel too bad about people not knowing about 1918. IIRC, Pointless recently showed that the number of people who knew that Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the UK was in the low eighties (out of the 100 asked). George Bush surprisingly scored in the 90's for President of the USA. Sic transit... I hold on to the hope that some of the 100 people asked respond with a 'don't know' or a facetious reply in the spirit of never answering surveys truthfully. It's the only thing that keeps me sane. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Ahh, the great Mencken. His politics were a touch questionable in places, but could he ever nail a pithy quote: An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup. It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull. And ... a winner... The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. How many like him prevail today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 I susp[ect that the "100 people" are mainly thirtysomethings, as distinct from the studio audience who appear to be mainly fifty/sixtysomethings. There does seem to be a preponderance of questions about "popular" music since about 1990. As regards Mastermind I have been known, on the odd occasion, to outscore someone on their specialist round, but not very often. And I answer the questions from an armchair rather more comfortable than the one on the show, and not under studio lighting in front of an audience. University Challenge has also changed since my undergraduate days. Some of the science questions are a lot tougher, although I do find some questions ridiculous, e.g. "These are pairs of words which are spelled the same except for an acute accent. Give me both words from these definitions." Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 There is no poll I have ever taken part in that has been an accurate reflection of the truth, I always lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 "We asked one hundred people in a poll... have you just been lying in your previous answers?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Nulty Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 I am 54 years old and have never been asked questions for Family Fortunes, Pointless or even about how I might vote in an election. So who are the people who are asked such questions? Do all these programmes have the same 100 people who are employed as professional answerers? I think we should be told Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Perhaps the same people are used everytime the opinions or answers of 'one hundred people' are needed - the 'UK standard group of one hundred people' NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Come on Keith, I remember that incident well, but you are just using it as an example in order to be able to do a bit of Southampton bashing!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 The 100 people who answer the 'Pointless' questions are members of their own audience for that programme. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 13 December , 2011 Share Posted 13 December , 2011 Come on Keith, I remember that incident well, but you are just using it as an example in order to be able to do a bit of Southampton bashing!! LOL I thought it was in Southampton's long time rival, Portsmouth (started with seaport expansion and early railway links I believe), however the story appears, over time, to have become distorted by 'Chinese Whispers' and neither city, according to the BBC, was actually the location Click NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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