TV Shapes View of History

“Britons rate the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, as the most significant event in the nation’s history over the past 100 years, ahead of the outbreak of the Second World War or the winning of women’s suffrage,” reports The Times of London. In a survey for the History Channel, over 1,000 people were asked to choose which of ten events was the most significant to them in British history during the past 100 years. The death of the princess was voted the most significant by 22 percent, the beginning of the second world war by 21 percent, and women’s suffrage by 15 percent. When asked about world events, 41 percent chose the September 11 attacks, 19 percent the atom-bombing of Hiroshima, and 11 percent the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Times comments that for most people “history is largely a matter of what they have seen most recently on television.”