Like history, knowledge of history is a thing of past

John Worthing should not worry too much if Thais don’t know what happened on January 25, 1942. I spent years teaching in the Philippines and never met anyone who knew that, on September 24, 1762, the British technically conquered the country thanks to the Spanish garrison in Manila being asleep. The occupation lasted until 1764.

Nearer our own times, a recent survey found that more British schoolchildren recognised the name Adolf Hitler than that of Margaret Thatcher, while also believing that the South Sea Bubble was a revolutionary kind of washing up liquid. Another survey found a worrying percentage of kids answered the question “Where was the American declaration of independence signed” with the response “At the bottom.”

It is said that ignorance is bliss, which could explain the huge number of happy people in today’s world.

Barry Kenyon