Nice to Know that Americans Aren’t The Only Ignorant Citizens

In Great Britain, few citizens know anything about the geography of the United States. In a recent survey, these results showed that Americans share a kinship in ignorance with their fellow English speaking mates. Neither knows much about the other’s country.

– 61% of people from Southampton thought Washington D.C. was the capital of Washington

– A quarter of Cambridge folk thought Kim Kardashian’s father was a former President of the United States

– 60% of people from Manchester were sure Michael Johnson was a basketball player

– A quarter of under-25s gave Declaration of Independence authorship to JFK

– Only 10% of the UK population were aware that same sex marriage was already legal in 37 states before summer 2016’s law change

The UK and America historically share a special relationship meaning thousands of Brits travel to America. Around 23,000 British citizens emigrate to the USA every year looking for better weather, lower rates on larger homes and bigger food portions.

As a nation we love to soak in everything America has to offer; from music, TV and film, to sharing our interest in current affairs, and keeping up with the Kardashians.

We even share the same names of certain American locations. For example, Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city in the UK, where as Birmingham Alabama is home to the Jazz hall of fame. Even our own capital shares the same name with a small state town situated in Ohio.

However, despite the fact that the UK love to visit top American tourist destinations, as a nation we seem to lack general knowledge about the USA.

A survey taken by long haul holiday specialists Hayes and Jarvis shows that we don’t know as much as we think we do about our friends across the pond.

The survey spanned across trivia categories such as history, current affairs, geography, entertainment, food & drink and sport. It has revealed that 75% of British residents don’t know when Dr King said his famous ‘“I Have a Dream” speech, with almost a quarter of the country claiming it was actually on the day The Flintstones first aired.

Despite Southampton taking the title of most knowledgable city they too only answered 40% of questions correctly, with 59% of people from the city thinking Michael Johnson was a basketball player and 61% thinking that Washington D.C. was the capital of Washington .

A spokesperson from Hayes & Jarvis said, “Despite what seems on the surface as a lack of knowledge of America, we’re finding that the British people are travelling to the U.S. more and more. We have accommodated for the huge demand in American travel with holidays in 30 states, and our multi-centre holidays in the U.S are extremely popular.

We’re keen to test the UK’s general knowledge of America so have created a Trivial Pursuit style quiz for the British Public to try. We’re challenging them to beat the statistics!”

In conjunction with the survey, Hayes & Jarvis have also created The Big American Quiz to test the public’s knowledge ahead of the 4th July: http://www.hayesandjarvis.co.uk/holidays/content/the-big-american-quiz