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July 21, 2008
Civic Ignorance - for once it's not Americans!
What is Magna Carta?Is it:
(a) a menu of bottled Irish ciders
(b) an important medieval charter
(c) a Japanese cartoon strip
or (d) a member of a famous family of folk musicians?If you answered anything other than (b), then you're among nearly half of the UK population, going by the results of a new survey.
Commissioned by the British Library, the 'You Gov' poll found that 45 per cent of the UK population has no idea what Magna Carta is, or stands for.
Asked to describe what the Magna Carta is and what it did, fewer than one in three (32 per cent) were able to state that the 13th century charter set limits on the authority of the monarch.
The over-55 age group did best, with 63 per cent knowing it is a medieval charter and 37 per cent identifying that it restricted the power of the monarch. However, only 39 per cent of 18-24 year olds got the first question right, and 71 per cent did not know it related to the powers of the monarch.
From the 24 Hour Museum, in a story about the British Library's Magna Carta website. Look and learn!
Posted by CrankyProfessor at July 21, 2008 1:25 PM