Lest we forget
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:00 am
Possibly showing my age here, but I was a little taken aback by this clip from The Apprentice, in which contestants express uncertainty about the years in which the Second World War started and ended.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07s9hwj I’m not looking to demonise these young men and women, and in fairness they do initially get it right. It feels like such basic historical knowledge for my generation (born in the 1970s), that you take it for granted. Is it surprising, or is it inevitable that it’ll fade from public consciousness in the coming decades? Realistically, how many people of any age in the UK could now give the start and end years for the Boer War, or the Crimean War or the year of the Battle of Waterloo, off the top of their heads? And being honest, I have just had to check whether the Falklands was in ‘82 or ‘83, and I saw the news coverage myself as a child. Ultimately, is it even natural and healthy that it eventually comes to be viewed like those earlier conflicts? Although I appreciate the difference in scale, obviously. The Orange Walks commemorating a battle that took place in 1690 look a little strange to me in the 21st century, for example. |
Possibly showing my age here, but I was a little taken aback by this clip from The Apprentice, in which contestants express uncertainty about the years in which the Second World War started and ended.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07s9hwj I’m not looking to demonise these young men and women, and in fairness they do initially get it right. It feels like such basic historical knowledge for my generation (born in the 1970s), that you take it for granted. Is it surprising, or is it inevitable that it’ll fade from public consciousness in the coming decades? Realistically, how many people of any age in the UK could now give the start and end years for the Boer War, or the Crimean War or the year of the Battle of Waterloo, off the top of their heads? And being honest, I have just had to check whether the Falklands was in ‘82 or ‘83, and I saw the news coverage myself as a child. Ultimately, is it even natural and healthy that it eventually comes to be viewed like those earlier conflicts? Although I appreciate the difference in scale, obviously. The Orange Walks commemorating a battle that took place in 1690 look a little strange to me in the 21st century, for example. |
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