history

I was about five when Diana and Price Charles got married and I remember watching the wedding on TV with my mom. Only problem was I thought Diana was the Princess of WHALES, not WALES. I imagined after the wedding she and Charles would ride off into the sunset on the back of two humpbacks...

She who wishes to be the Princess of Whales

At some point when I was very young, I came to the conclusion that the phrase "hurt like the Dickens" was associated with Charles Dickens and that he was a wicked man. Eventually, this mutated into a belief that A Christmas Carol was autobiographical and that Charles was Scrooge (only he hadn't become nice in the end like the character in the book). Later, in the 3rd grade, I was asked to give a report on Charles Dickens based on an illustrated book for children about the man. Thinking I already knew everything I needed to know about him from seeing the film version of A Christmas Carol, I winged it. I found myself in front of the class telling everyone that Charles Dickens was an evil man who didn't pay his workers very well and hated handicapped kids. At one point I got Scrooge confused with the Grinch and told everyone that Charles Dickens stole children's toys and abused his dog.

Michael Kaszynski

Up until the 5th grade, I thought that all Egyptians were extinct.

Amy x

I used to think that Hitler got both his name and his bad reputation because he went around randomly hitting people.

Anon

I used to believe the Spanish attacked England with a monsterous ship called the "Armada". It was made up of a hundred ships!

Terry Debassige

I remember having read Adolf Hitler's name someplace when I was really young, but had no idea why exactly he was so infamous. All I knew was that he was German.

So, I figured that 'Hitler' would be the perfect name for a German Shepherd dog. My parents convinced me otherwise.

Anon

When I was very young I thought that "B.C." stood for "Before Cloth." Prior to that time, I imagined everybody was running around wearing animal skins because they didn't know how to weave textiles yet.

Anon, A Mouse

When I was six or so I first learned the story of Robin Hood, only I misunderstood one vital point: I thought that King Richard had gone off not on the Crusades, but rather an actual cruise. I didn't understand why everyone thought Prince John was such a bad man because I'd be angry, too if my brother went off on holiday and left me home alone!

Meg

Ok, this isn't my belief but one of my friends at school...
At our secondary school, our history curriculum ONLY covered the two world wars (seriously, that was all we were taught) and didn't include any Colonial or American History.

This was when the film Independence Day had only recently been released - my friend was amazed when she saw Independence day on her calendar... only having the film to connect it to, she thought there had actually been an attempted alien invasion and the 4th of July was a commemorative holiday.

To be fair though, I only found out yesterday that The Boston Tea Party was a protest against British colonists (i'm 20), I had always thought it was a slightly less- well known music festival than Woodstock, where people had drunk tea rather than dropping acid.

It's a good job GCSE's got easier.

Jessica

That the McCartney Era was another name for Beatlemania (due to confusion between "McCartney" and "McCarthy"

James Anderson

In first grade we were reading about Amelia Earhart, and how Roosevelt was president at the time. However, I did not understand that "First Lady" meant you were the president's wife, I thought it meant Eleanor Roosevelt was the first woman who ever existed!

Anon

When my grandpa got sick, a black woman was a house-nurse. I, for a while, thought she was Harriet Tubbman, but was too shy to ask her about her adventures!

Dummby

I used to believe B.C. stood for "Before Cowboys" because I heard it on a cartoon and my dad let me continue to believe it because he thought it was funny. I didn't learn any better until 4th or 5th grade.

Coral

i used to believe A.D. stood for "after dinosaurs".

Jennifer

i grew up in central new york where there were many old barns that were toppeled over, but left there. my undeveloped concept of time led me to believe that the dinosaurs were the ones that destroyed them.

steve

When the Apollo missions were going on. I just could not believe how foolish the astronauts were, going out of their spaceships without their Ray gun's. What would happen if a space monster jumped them from behind a rock?
Also, I refused to believe my older brother when he told me that the Astronauts lived in only the very top bit of the massive Saturn V rockets & only the very tip of the rocket return to earth after the mission.

Space Boy

I remember when i was little i asked my dad who the first person on earth was and he told me it was michael jackson! i actually believed him and whenever i heard the name on tv i was like, "wow, he must be really old!"

Katie

I once asked my grandmother what it was like living when the dinosoars were around. Boy was she mad. I really thought she was alive at the same time as the dinosoars!.....my bad

Kayla

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

Ok, me and my friends used to have this strange belief that a knights rank was determined by the spikey-ness of his helmet. I recall one of my arguments with my friend ending with: "MY HELMET IS SPIKIER THEN YOURS, SO THERE!"

Nahtiak