Ye Olde Videoe Clippe Threade

[glatt]

And while you are pondering that, here's a disaster video taken by one of the lucky guys at Mount Everest Base camp. He got covered with just a dusting of snow from the avalanche. Warning: Contains appropriate interjections.

[Carruthers]

Things aren't that different on this side of the Atlantic.

Churchill: Bulldog or Former British Prime Minister?

His bark might have been worse than his bite but would you believe that 17% of school children think that Sir Winston Churchill is the bulldog in an insurance advert?

With the 60th anniversary of VE Day looming and the publication of the audio Winston Churchill's Greatest Speeches: Never Give In!, BBC Audiobooks commissioned a nationwide survey asking children, aged between 8 and 11, if they knew who Sir Winston Churchill was.

An encouraging 52% knew that Churchill, recently voted 'Greatest Briton of All Time', was a former British Prime Minister.

Amusingly, 17% of those surveyed by BMRB believed he was the dog in the Churchill insurance adverts and 7% thought he was a TV news presenter.

One in five children had no idea who Sir Winston was while a few had a stab at guessing, suggesting he was 'a saint' or 'someone at the Hendon RAF Museum'.

Grandson Winston S. Churchill, who was involved in selecting and introducing the speeches for the audio Never Give In! commented: "I have to say it is a devastating commentary on our education system that 17% of young people should think Churchill is the Bulldog in the Insurance advertisements and a further 20% hadn't a clue!

"Why can't they be told the fantastic story of the 'Hero Generation' who saved the world from Hitler? It is thanks to the heroism and sacrifice of the British people that the nations of Europe are today free. But for them, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, the Nazi Swastika would today be flying over all the capital cities of Europe from London to Moscow - worth thinking about!"

Admittedly, this survey dates from 2005 but if it was repeated today I wouldn't expect the results to be any different.

BBC Press Office

A more recent article here:

He's Not A TV Dog! Call For Churchill Legacy


Questions from Dwellars asking for clarification as to which picture represents the former Prime Minister, will be filed.

[DanaC]

Oh gosh, the Texas campus questions - "Who is the vice-president? Is that like a trick question?"

Hahahahahahaha.

Gotta love students, man.

[Clodfobble]

But everyone deserves to go to college! College is for everyone!

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by glatt

Warning: Contains appropriate interjections.

I knew it was wrong when I was doing it, but, I laughed just a little when the guy started in with those "Fuck!! Fuck!!!"s.

I almost posted the same vid under "Most Appropriate (and Most) Use(s) of 'Fuck'".

[Gravdigr]

It is thanks to the heroism and sacrifice of the British people that the nations of Europe are today free. But for them, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, the Nazi Swastika would today be flying over all the capital cities of Europe from London to Moscow - worth thinking about!"

Weren't there a few others involved?

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Carruthers

Things aren't that different on this side of the Atlantic.

Churchill: Bulldog or Former British Prime Minister?



Attachment 51285 Attachment 51286

"aged between 8 and 11"

I don't find it remotely worrying that 17 % of that age group think Churchill is the dog in a long running and somewhat omnipresent insurance advert. It doesn't give the age break down, but I would imagine it's skewed towards the younger end.

At 8-11 years old, just how much of the nation's history do we expect a child to have absorbed?

Frankly, I'm pretty impressed that 52% of children that young do know who Churchill was.

[BigV]

How Transformers are when we're not looking.

[xoxoxoBruce]

[glatt]

That was awesome.

[BigV]

she looks alive and well indeed!

[Gravdigr]

One hundred two...I'll consider myself lucky to see fifty-two.

[BigV]

don't blink.

a hundred years goes faster than you think.

as the song goes.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Here's a movie from 1916, well a movie short at 26 minutes, called The Mystery of the Leaping Fish.

"Coke Ennyday, the scientific detective(Douglas Fairbanks), divides his own time in periods for "Sleep", "Eat", "Dope" and "Drink". In fact he's used to overcome every situation with drugs: consuming it to increase his energies or injecting it in his opponents to KO them. To help the police he discovers a contraband of opium (which he eagerly tastes) transported with "Leaping Fishes", and the blackmail of a mysterious man who wants to marry the "fish blower" girl. Will Coke be able to free the girl ?"

[DanaC]

That was really fascinating, bruce.

I came in to post this little video. It's a short piece by American playwrite, Lee Blessing, performed by Michael Emerson:

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