Allow me to be the first to point and laugh.One in three primary school pupils believe that Sir Winston Churchill was the first man to walk on the moon, according to a survey.
The children, aged between four and ten-years-old, confused the war time Prime Minister with the American astronaut Neil Armstrong, despite the fact they were born in different centuries and different countries.
But their lack of knowledge comes as little surprise. Last month a similar poll of British teenagers revealed a quarter think that Sir Winston never existed at all.
It transpired they associate the name Churchill with a nodding dog that stars in an advert for insurance, rather than the Second World War leader.
However, in 2002 a BBC poll named Sir Winston as the greatest Briton of all time, beating William Shakespeare, John Lennon and Elizabeth I. Almost half a million voted for him.
advertisementThe recent survey of 1,400 youngsters was on the topic of astronomy, and highlighted that children are being failed by their science lessons.
Two in five of those questioned think Mars is just a chocolate bar, while a third believe Earth is not an official planet.
On a positive note, children are keen to learn more about the universe, with three-quarters saying they were interested in astronomy.
Gavin Quirk, of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, which commissioned the survey in conjunction with the Royal Astronomical Society, said: "It's a bit of a worry to find that children don't know who the first man on the moon is, let alone that they don't know who led the country to victory in the Second World War.
"And I think it is definitely time to get back to the classroom if our school children think of Mars firstly as a chocolate bar."
