Call yourself british? could you pass the 'britishness test'

• ‘Britishness test’ finds Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle know the least about their home nation
• Alongside 25-34-year olds who struggled with the test
• One in six (15 per cent) didn’t even know the daffodil was the flower associated with Wales
   

Participants scored an average of 59 per cent, in a new ‘Britishness Test’ designed by Privilege Insurance to find out how much people actually know about the country they call home.

The test combined questions from the official British citizenship test with GCSE level British geography and history exam questions and found that nearly one in six (15 per cent) thought the Welsh national flower was a thistle, a rose or a shamrock and only two in five (40 per cent) knew when the first Union flag was created (1606).

British history has been revealed as the most deficient area of knowledge, with more than four in five (82 per cent) participants failing the history questions. In spite of it being a primary school history staple, with remains visible all over the UK, just over two thirds (69 per cent) failed to remember how long the Romans occupied Britain for (400 years) and more than half of respondents (51 per cent) could not recall the year in which women over 21 received the right to vote either (1928).

In spite of a generally poor show when it came to history, nearly all (93 per cent) respondents got a question about where Anne Boleyn was executed correct (Tower of London). This is perhaps due to recent high-profile TV series such as The Tudors and Wolf Hall.

When it came to geography more than one in five (22 per cent) people claimed the Cotswolds were an example of a highland glacial landscape, when given the choice between that and the Cairngorms, the Pennines and Snowdonia and 19 per cent did not know Scotland experienced shorter days in winter and longer days in summer.

The worst scoring regions were North East and London with average scores of 55 per cent or below overall. This compared to the South West, who top the charts with an average score of a whopping 63 per cent.
 

Average scores in the UK by region

Source: Privilege Insurance

Average scores in the UK by city

Source: Privilege insurance

When it comes to knowledge of Britain, there is very little difference between the sexes it seems, with men scoring an average of 60 per cent, and women scoring 57 per cent. However, age is a factor when it comes to recalling British knowledge with over 65s scoring over 15 per cent more on average than their younger counterparts at the bottom of the table. Respondents aged 18-24 marginally edged those aged 25-34; perhaps able to recall their GCSEs more readily. In real terms, this means those aged over 65 got two more questions correct than the others who took the test.
 

Average score based on age demographic

Source: Privilege Insurance

The question with the most incorrect answers asked participants to identify which reason was NOT behind the decline in employment in primary and secondary industries in the UK, which only 19 per cent could successfully name.
 

Christian Mendes, head of Privilege home insurance, commented on the findings:

“We're living in a time when the meaning of Britishness is so openly debated and we wanted to understand just how much the average person knows about their homeland. Combining GCSE level questions on British history and geography, as well as the British Citizenship Test questions, to create the Privilege Britishness Test meant we were able to get a better picture of the public’s knowledge.

Mendes continued: “Whilst it appears that we could all do with brushing up on our knowledge of Britain, Privilege insurance is for everyone, whether they know their shamrock from their thistle or not".
 

ENDS
 

For more information and to access the test questions please contact: Fran Langdon or Laura Nugent at Richmond & Towers:

fran@rtc.london / laura@rtc.london / 020 3179 0720

Notes to editors:

Research was conducted by Opinium amongst 2,005 UK adults between 28 to 31 July 2017*

Respondents had to score 75 per cent or above in order to pass The Ultimate Britishness Test.

Comprised of five citizenship test questions, five GCSE history questions and five GCSE geography questions

Questionnaire available on request
 

Privilege

Privilege Insurance specialises in car insurance for safe drivers. It also offers home insurance and breakdown cover by phone or on-line.

Privilege general insurance policies are underwritten by U K Insurance Limited, Registered office: The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4AZ. Registered in England and Wales No 1179980. U K Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Privilege and U K Insurance Limited are both part of Direct Line Insurance Group plc.

Customers can find out more about Privilege’s products or get a quote by calling 0345 246 0515 or visiting www.privilege.co.uk