Fact or fiction, it's hard to tell 9th Apr 2004

LONDON - The Cold War never happened but the Battle of Helms Deep did. Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill are fictitious characters but Conan the Barbarian is for real.

A poll in Britain recently revealed a scant knowledge of history muddled with fiction propagated by Hollywood, said the Independent.

Researchers, who interviewed more than 2,000 people, found that close to a third thought the Cold War was not real while 6 per cent believed The War Of The Worlds, H G Wells' fictional account of a Martian invasion, did happen.

More than 60 respondents said the Battle of Helms Deep, from The Lord Of The Ring's trilogy, actually took place.

There was similar confusion about characters from history and fiction. Five per cent thought that Conan the Barbarian, the warrior played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a 1982 film, used to stalk the planet.

Almost one in two believe William Wallace, the 13th-century Scottish resistance leader played by Mel Gibson in his film Braveheart, was a fictitious character invented by Hollywood.

I've decided to cut my original short. I sounded as dumb as the 60 respondents.