When I was a kid, carnivorous dinosaurs were said to be 'flesh eaters'. My Crayon box included a pink-tan Crayon labeled 'flesh'. I decided that African cavemen probably had a much easier time getting along; furthermore, that I'd better remember to get a good tan if I ever decided to go back in time. I'm still still tanning, still hoping.

Anon

When I was in year 4, I did a project on the Kings and Queens of England during the Tudor period. I had read that Jane Seymour was the lady-in-waiting and that she was about to marry Henry. My mother told me that lady-in-waiting meant she was the lady waiting to marry the King. My mum honestly seemed to believe this and it seemed perfectly logical to me at the time. Of course, my mother vehemently denies it now.

Star

Until I was about 10 or 11 I believed that Joan of Arc, the French martyr, was really named "Joana Vark" It made sense to me! (I guess people speak fast where I'm from)

Julia

I used to believe that in the old days, evryone could write music and sing, and that when people fell in love that was what they did. I was upset to not live in those times. I obviously watched too many musicals growing up

Naomi

I remember looking at the bayeux tapestry, and how at the bottom were pictures of naked soldiers who had been killed and stripped of their armour. I didn't realise this, and thought that they must have just not worn any clothes to battle that day. I also remember being pset at hearing that the English had actually LOST the battle of Hastings.

Anon

When I first heard of the "sacking" of Rome, I thought it meant somebody tore down everything in Rome and carried it away in sacks.

Rhonda

I thought that the Middle Ages were make believe until I was around nine or ten. I read a lot of fairy tales and they had knights and princesses and dragons, and I thought that these stories all took place in the middle ages and so I figured they were fake. I thought that what really happened in the time of the middle ages was just a big blank and no one knew anything about it.

Tater

I used to believe that there were no dinosaur bones in America because I didn't think America existed until Columbus discovered it in 1492, and I knew dinosaurs died out millions of years ago. I didn't know how long ago that was, but I knew it was before 1492.

Athazagoraphobia

I used to think the olden days came once every couple of years

Anon

I used to believe that all the inventors existed in the late 18th century. I didn't think anything had been invented since Edison, Bell, and the like. I guess I thought that after coming up with the telephone, there was nothing else to invent!

Ann Y.

In the 1960s, Martin Luther King was on the cover of Time magazine. I said, "Look Mommy, our garbage man is on the cover of this magazine."

pbrain

I am a teacher at a primary school and was very surprised when one of my pupils asked me whether I used to be a monkey apparently he had seen Darwins picture of the evolution of man and presumed thats where men came from.

this kid also thought that I was 48 when i was 25 and that the world used to be black and white

bless

anon

When i was little, I used to believe that queens and kings were different from other people. They only ate at feasts and banquets, and just otherwise sat on their thrones ALL DAY. They didnt pee or sleep and certainly didnt fart or anything like that.

lisa

When I was in second grade, I learned about the Underground Railroad. I knew that "underground" meant secret, but the phrase still conjured up images of black women holding up lanterns, leading escaped slaves through these dirt tunnels under the ground. (That was probably because all the pictures I had seen of Harriet Tubman showed her leading people through the dark with a lantern.) Even today, I have trouble shaking the association from my mind...

MaeghanJade

When I was in about 1st or 2nd grade, I saw a history book for the first time. As we would read them in class, I'd think to myself "Wow, someone actually had to sit there with a blank book, pen ready, all through out time and writting down anything interesting that happened!" That same year we learned about the Magna Carta...as we read that, I thought "That had to be really annoying to write down a chapter about some King signing papers...it must have been a boring year."
Then I remember comming home upset one day after learning about the Civil War because I had the idea that the book-writer kept dying and someone else would have to take his place in order to get it into history.
Later I was told that history books were written by people who studied the past...but then I thought to myself "I was right! Someone did have to sit there and write about importaint things when they happened in order to create the books now."

Teensa Faye

When I was in primary school and about 8, I came to the conclusion that Beatrix Potter made the Bayeux Tapestry, because I thought they were spelt similarily and obviously I got confused.

Spacey

I used to think that the Boston Tea Party was a huge city wide tea party in Boston. Even my social studies teacher could not concince me otherwise.

jasonchic

I used to think that people in the middle ages spoke in rhymes (like that scene in the 'Princess Bride'). I must have caught a glimpse of Romeo & Juliet or some Shakespearean movie and thought that Shakespeare's wrote dialogue as poetry because that's the way people actually spoke back in the day.

claudia

I thought Elgin's marbles we're pre-historic marbles, as in the sort you
play with. It wasn't until I walked around the display hall in the British
Museum, past all these really boring statues, turned round to my husband
(yes I was an adult before I figured it out) and said "so where are they
then? I can't see any marbles!", that I found out the truth (after he'd
finished laughing at me).

Lindsey

I thought Marco Polo was a kind of shirt.

Anon