Someone has taken a poll in Britain that reveals 23 per cent of Britons think Winston Churchill is a fictional character. 77% never read any history. 58% think Sherlock Holmes is a historical figure.
Fifteen percent say they rely on the history they read in school. Which makes you wonder what the other 85% rely on.
But I rather like the concept of Churchill as a character in a novel. He is, in fact: he's the hero of that great saga of gallant little Britain -- who wrote that, anyway? He's the guy in all those WW2 novels and movies. He does have that kind of fictional reality that merely real people don't often attain.
What Canadian historical figures achieve that kind of fictional glow, so we perceive them as characters in a historical story? Sigh...
