London - A survey finding that about 50 per cent of secondary school children did not know Oliver Cromwell was a key figure in the English Civil War was yesterday described as "worrying" by the Education Secretary, Mr David Blunkett.
Nearly one in 10 secondary school pupils thought Queen Victoria ruled at the time of the Spanish Armada, the poll for the history publishers, Osprey, showed. Almost one in 20 of 11 to 18-year-olds believed Adolf Hitler was British prime minister during the second World War. And 14 per cent thought Blackadder, the television character created by Rowan Atkinson, was a historical figure while 31 per cent thought Richard the Lionheart was a fictional creation.
