They know everything about reality TV stars like Kim Kardashian but the younger generation are in the dark over icons from Marilyn Monroe to author Virginia Woolf.
Ironically, Kim wore Hollywood legend Marilyn’s historic, sparkling dress to New York’s Met Gala this week, yet the study found half of Brits aged under 30 had no idea who the platinum blonde movie star was.
The Some Like it Hot actress wowed the world when in 1962 she breathily sang “Happy Birthday” to then US President John F Kennedy wearing the figure hugging crystal-encrusted gown.
But it seems the relevance of 41-year-old Kim’s choice was lost on young British adults.
Worringly, the gaps in their knowledge about heroes who changed the world were exposed in a lost icons study which revealed eight in 10 were clueless over British Engima code cracking genius Alan Turing whose work at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, Bucks was pivotal in World War II.
More than three quarters of those polled were left scratching their heads over who suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was and seven in 10 did not know why black civil rights activist Rosa Parks was a groundbreaking figure.
The survey of 2,000 Brits aged 18-30-years-old by insights agency Perspectus Global found history was not their best subject as great names like American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, influential artist Pablo Picasso and in 1969 the first man to walk on the moon Neil Armstrong meant nothing to them.
Silver screen dancing duo Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire were also a mystery to this age group, along with guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, director Alfred Hitchcock and Breakfast at Tiffany’s star and style icon Audrey Hepburn.
British-Jamaican angel Mary Seacole, who famously nursed British soldiers during the Crimean war, was the least known icon with nine in 10 young adults blank over her place in history.
More than half were also unaware of her contemporary and the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale who like Mary tended to the war wounded in the Crimea and was fondly dubbed “the lady with the lamp” for her dedication in checking on them every night.
Huge holes in their history from world leaders and pioneers to showbiz stars were revealed as seven out of 10 did not know of Mahatma Ghandi, India’s civil rights leader who led the independence movement with peaceful protests.
Marie Curie whose work on radioactivity with her husband Pierre led to the discovery of polonium and radium and who also developed X-ray machines for the battlefield was unknown to six in 10.
And although hailed as the best actor of his generation and the star of Hollywood blockbusters such as The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris, Marlon Brando was a name unfamiliar to seven in 10.
Ellie Glason, managing director of Perspectus Global said: “It is fascinating to see how many iconic figures from history are unknown to the younger generation of Brits”.
Top 30 lost icons
1. Mary Seacole
2. Frida Kahlo
3. Virginia Woolf
4. Alan Turing
5. Ginger Rogers
6. Emmeline Pankhurst
7. Marlon Brando
8. Cary Grant
9. Fred Astaire
10. Bette Davis
11. Jim Morrison
12. Sigmund Freud
13. Mahatma Gandhi
14. George Orwell
15. Rosa Parks
16. Andy Warhol
17. Aretha Franklin
18. Alfred Hitchcock
19. Jimi Hendrix
20. Audrey Hepburn
21. Kurt Cobain
22. Charlie Chaplin
23. Pablo Picasso
24. Marie Curie
25. Muhammad Ali
26. Florence Nightingale
27. Bruce Lee
28. Nelson Mandela
29. Martin Luther King
30. Neil Armstrong
