LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth.

And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist.

Three percent thought Charles Dickens, one of Britain's most famous writers, is a work of fiction himself.

Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi and Battle of Waterloo victor the Duke of Wellington also appeared in the top 10 of people thought to be myths.

Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

UKTV Gold television surveyed 3,000 people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080204/od_afp/britainpeoplehistoryoffbeat;_ylt=AqlejTWknKvTnmSjlKIAh1es0NUE

OK, I know the general perception is that Americans are stupid and can't locate certain countries on a map but how can this be happening in Britain?

Problem is, there are a high quantity of stupid people everywhere.

wtf, noway. mind you im always shocked by the amount of brits who can't speak coherent english, it must 50% of the population

 Oh don't go there. Then we have go in how English is Britain's language and we're speaking with American accents.

Shakespeare would be an interesting one to do, because there is a fairly prevalent conspiracy theory that he didn't actually exist (or if he did he didn't write his works) and that his works are written by a group of playwrights under his name.

But still, Churchill? We all know hes about as real as the Loch Ness Monster.

And Biggles is my hero.

I'm just hoping a quarter of the people didn't know what a "myth" was. Somehow that's better.

Finally, a poll focused on some other country's stupidity instead of America's. Maybe people will start to realize that every nation is full of idiots.

Is it just me, or are the general populations in western countries getting more stupid?

What we aren't that dumb!

This just proves SURVEYS are usually WRONG!

Haha.

I have a feeling a large number of those people are just screwing around, I highly doubt thats an accurate statistic. Same with Americans not being able to find the U.S. on a map, I have never met a single person on my life that couldn't find the U.S. on a map not even in a kindergarten class, in fact, they teach you where the U.S. is in Kindergarten.