In a study commissioned by a UK television network, out of 3000 Britons asked:
65% thought King Arthur was real.
58% thought Sherlock Holmes was real.
51% thought Robin Hood was real.
47% thought Eleanor Rigby was real.
However:
47% thought Richard the Lionheart was fictional.
23% thought Florence Nightingale was fictional.
23% thought Winston Churchill was fictional.
Not sure what this proves, if anything. But it’ll be hard not to think of these numbers next time there’s another survey showing that too many Americans still think Iraq had WMDs, Saddam was linked to Al-Qaeda and/or September 11th, etc.