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to ask you, if you are British born, to answer these six questions without Googling?

474 replies

IceLollyMolly · 22/06/2025 11:56

Just a small experiment. Not a marketing gimmick, but I will explain shortly, once a few people have answered. Or not answered!
If you are British born, can you answer these five questions without Googling or using any other materials for the answers?
(1) Who was the first person to circumnavigate the world without stopping?
(2) What date was the Battle of Boyne?
(3) How many local authorities are there in London?
(4) Which composer composed music for George the I?
(5) What significant event took place in 1284?
(6) Who is the paralympian who won six gold medals over two Paralympic Games?

OP posts:
powershowerforanhour · 22/06/2025 17:51

(1) Who was the first person to circumnavigate the world without stopping?
Um...Sir Francis Drake? Vasco da Gama? Magellan?
(2) What date was the Battle of Boyne?
1690. Be embarrassed if that was wrong.
(3) How many local authorities are there in London?
No idea
(4) Which composer composed music for George the I?
Handel?
(5) What significant event took place in 1284?
No idea. Magna Carta signing?
(6) Who is the paralympian who won six gold medals over two Paralympic Games?
I'll guess Sarah Storey but could be Ellie Simmonds. Or neither. Tanni Grey-Thompson? But wheelchair racing is harder than velodrome cycling or swimming so you don't do multiple events, maybe it was London Marathons shecl won.

GonnaeNoDaeThatJustGonnaeNo · 22/06/2025 18:15

I only did Scottish history at school so not got a clue about most of them and no idea why I’d need to know about London boroughs

i can tell you anything you want to know about the Jacobites, the Clearances, the Darien project and Scotlands 32 local authorities.

Dappy777 · 22/06/2025 18:53

I could have made a stab at four of them. These sorts of tests are ridiculous. They're gimmicks designed to placate/shut up those with concerns about immigration. The simple fact is, when huge numbers of people migrate to a country they change its identity. When migration is small scale, that's different. You can assimilate small numbers of people very quickly. I have a British-Indian friend whose grandparents came here in the 1950s, for example. She is more British than the British. She has all the traits I like in the British, and none of the traits I hate (and there are many traits I hate, believe me).

However, it's a lie that you can have mass immigration and multiculturalism and not change a country. Of course you change it – you change it fundamentally. Imagine if millions of Swedish people moved to the island of Okinawa. Obviously they would completely change Okinawan culture and identity. Whenever human beings move en mass from one place to another they change that place. I no longer feel like I live in a country with a shared history or shared identity. I don't mean that people were nationalistic when I was young. I never saw a British or English flag flying outside someone's house, and I knew no one who liked the royal family or could sing the national anthem (which is the worst in the world). All the tears and flag waving were regarded as "very American" and a bit vulgar. But in any case that was all unnecessary because the sense of identity was so deep and solid and ancient. It was unspoken, but it was there. It isn't there anymore.

The left don't mind this profound change, of course, because they hate Britain. Even George Orwell wrote that "England is perhaps the only country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality." And when you hate something you are happy to see it change. But I have no intention of changing. I already know who I am. My identity is rooted above all in the literature of this island, a literature that is itself rooted in the seasons and the landscape – Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Jane Austen, Dickens, Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen, Larkin, etc. My identity is Monty Python and Fawlty Towers and Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse and countless other things. I don't need or want a new identity, thankyou.

(P. S I'm not interested in the views of some bullying, sneering MN leftie. I'm not asking for your permission to hold on to that identity. I'm telling you what my identity is.)

CoffeeCakeAndALattePlease · 22/06/2025 19:35

I know none of those.

RectoryPeacock · 22/06/2025 20:14

Dappy777 · 22/06/2025 18:53

I could have made a stab at four of them. These sorts of tests are ridiculous. They're gimmicks designed to placate/shut up those with concerns about immigration. The simple fact is, when huge numbers of people migrate to a country they change its identity. When migration is small scale, that's different. You can assimilate small numbers of people very quickly. I have a British-Indian friend whose grandparents came here in the 1950s, for example. She is more British than the British. She has all the traits I like in the British, and none of the traits I hate (and there are many traits I hate, believe me).

However, it's a lie that you can have mass immigration and multiculturalism and not change a country. Of course you change it – you change it fundamentally. Imagine if millions of Swedish people moved to the island of Okinawa. Obviously they would completely change Okinawan culture and identity. Whenever human beings move en mass from one place to another they change that place. I no longer feel like I live in a country with a shared history or shared identity. I don't mean that people were nationalistic when I was young. I never saw a British or English flag flying outside someone's house, and I knew no one who liked the royal family or could sing the national anthem (which is the worst in the world). All the tears and flag waving were regarded as "very American" and a bit vulgar. But in any case that was all unnecessary because the sense of identity was so deep and solid and ancient. It was unspoken, but it was there. It isn't there anymore.

The left don't mind this profound change, of course, because they hate Britain. Even George Orwell wrote that "England is perhaps the only country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality." And when you hate something you are happy to see it change. But I have no intention of changing. I already know who I am. My identity is rooted above all in the literature of this island, a literature that is itself rooted in the seasons and the landscape – Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Jane Austen, Dickens, Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen, Larkin, etc. My identity is Monty Python and Fawlty Towers and Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse and countless other things. I don't need or want a new identity, thankyou.

(P. S I'm not interested in the views of some bullying, sneering MN leftie. I'm not asking for your permission to hold on to that identity. I'm telling you what my identity is.)

I suppose it’s refreshing to see you are capable of holing an opinion that isn’t cribbed from Harold Bloom, however abhorrent. But please don’t drag in the writers of the past as poster children for your reactionary mindset. They do not stand for some kind of past sense of cohesion. Maybe read far more widely and more contemporary work. Read people who trouble and complicate your sense of Britishness, or make you ask yourself why you feel so threatened. Read some immigrant writers.

KatiesbigsisterSue · 22/06/2025 20:19

None of them

yakkity · 22/06/2025 20:22

KruelladeVille23 · 22/06/2025 12:06

Many British people would not be able to answer these particular questions off the top of their heads. But there are many other questions in the test on government and voting, women’s rights, disabled rights etc the answers to which would be obvious to most (all) British citizens.

I think the whole point of this easy, multiple choice, test is that it requires a bit of preparation. This shows a degree of commitment to the idea of becoming a British citizen which should be seen as a serious step bringing with responsibilities in addition to rights.

But wouldn’t you think there would be more than enough useful people could learn to show their commitment rather than this nonsense?

WonderingWanda · 22/06/2025 20:30

Number 3. More than 15 because I used to live in SW15....well more than 17 because ot East17 the band.

Really no clue about any of them.

thecatneuterer · 22/06/2025 20:49

WonderingWanda · 22/06/2025 20:30

Number 3. More than 15 because I used to live in SW15....well more than 17 because ot East17 the band.

Really no clue about any of them.

You seem to be confusing postcodes with local authorities

juggleit · 22/06/2025 20:55

KruelladeVille23 · 22/06/2025 12:06

Many British people would not be able to answer these particular questions off the top of their heads. But there are many other questions in the test on government and voting, women’s rights, disabled rights etc the answers to which would be obvious to most (all) British citizens.

I think the whole point of this easy, multiple choice, test is that it requires a bit of preparation. This shows a degree of commitment to the idea of becoming a British citizen which should be seen as a serious step bringing with responsibilities in addition to rights.

This

jcyclops · 22/06/2025 21:04

IceLollyMolly · 22/06/2025 12:18

I made a mistake. I omitted the word singlehandedly in Q 1. That makes a big difference.

Before this correction I was going to say Capt. James Gallagher & crew (in Lucky Lady, 1949). After your correction I would have to say Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

jcyclops · 22/06/2025 21:14

Battle of the Boyne - I thought 12th July 1690, and was surprised when I checked and it was actually 1st July!

jcyclops · 22/06/2025 21:24

I think there are many paralympians who have won 6 golds across 2 games. A few Brits who have done so are:

Sarah Storey won 6 golds across 2008-2012 and again 2016-2020
Tanni Grey-Thompson won 6 golds across 2000-2004
Mike Kenny won 6 golds across 1976-1980
Lee Pearson won 6 golds across 2000-2004
David Weir won 6 golds across 2008-2012

soundsys · 22/06/2025 21:42

I can only answer the one about the Battle of the Boyne (which probably narrows down where I was born somewhat!)

Whatafustercluck · 22/06/2025 21:50

I thought 1284 might have been the signing of the Magna Carta, but was wrong. So, none for me. And my general knowledge is usually pretty good.

ThursdayWaitingForChocolate · 22/06/2025 21:56

I used to know all that as of November 2017, by August 2018 when I had my citizenship ceremony I had forgotten them all!

Whatafustercluck · 22/06/2025 21:56

Dappy777 · 22/06/2025 18:53

I could have made a stab at four of them. These sorts of tests are ridiculous. They're gimmicks designed to placate/shut up those with concerns about immigration. The simple fact is, when huge numbers of people migrate to a country they change its identity. When migration is small scale, that's different. You can assimilate small numbers of people very quickly. I have a British-Indian friend whose grandparents came here in the 1950s, for example. She is more British than the British. She has all the traits I like in the British, and none of the traits I hate (and there are many traits I hate, believe me).

However, it's a lie that you can have mass immigration and multiculturalism and not change a country. Of course you change it – you change it fundamentally. Imagine if millions of Swedish people moved to the island of Okinawa. Obviously they would completely change Okinawan culture and identity. Whenever human beings move en mass from one place to another they change that place. I no longer feel like I live in a country with a shared history or shared identity. I don't mean that people were nationalistic when I was young. I never saw a British or English flag flying outside someone's house, and I knew no one who liked the royal family or could sing the national anthem (which is the worst in the world). All the tears and flag waving were regarded as "very American" and a bit vulgar. But in any case that was all unnecessary because the sense of identity was so deep and solid and ancient. It was unspoken, but it was there. It isn't there anymore.

The left don't mind this profound change, of course, because they hate Britain. Even George Orwell wrote that "England is perhaps the only country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality." And when you hate something you are happy to see it change. But I have no intention of changing. I already know who I am. My identity is rooted above all in the literature of this island, a literature that is itself rooted in the seasons and the landscape – Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Jane Austen, Dickens, Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen, Larkin, etc. My identity is Monty Python and Fawlty Towers and Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse and countless other things. I don't need or want a new identity, thankyou.

(P. S I'm not interested in the views of some bullying, sneering MN leftie. I'm not asking for your permission to hold on to that identity. I'm telling you what my identity is.)

Are you alright?

ThursdayWaitingForChocolate · 22/06/2025 21:59

I think not much.
(Proud leftie immigrant paying taxes since 2012)

SarfLondonLad · 22/06/2025 22:04

Got 5. Not interested in sport so no idea about No 6.

SarfLondonLad · 22/06/2025 22:05

mathanxiety · 22/06/2025 16:17

@AtoCyes, I figured they were looking for Drake but I'm Team Magellan.

I thought it was Robin Knox-Johnson.

Cherrysoup · 22/06/2025 22:07

I think I must be foreign! 🤦🏼‍♀️

fataroundthemiddle · 22/06/2025 22:09

No Sorry, not one

ElliePhillips · 22/06/2025 22:33
  1. no idea
  2. no idea
  3. 33
  4. Zadok the Priest by George Frederic Handel
  5. no idea
  6. Tanni Gray-Thompson? (Wild guess! 😕)

Now I’m going to scroll back up to see why you asked and read the answers. Love quizzes, even when I’ve no clue of the answers 🤓

sakura06 · 23/06/2025 08:29

Q1 is usually Magellan but he died en route and wasn’t British, so I would go Francis Drake.

Would have guessed Handel but don’t know for sure.

Assuming 1284 is something to do with the conquest of Wales: execution of Dafydd ap Llywelyn. 1282 is the more significant date though.

I don’t know any answers for sure and I’m also a History teacher 🫣

TeenToTwenties · 23/06/2025 08:34

People like Francis Drake sailed to get places, not just get back to where they started without stopping to restock / trade / plunder.

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