I was taught about Columbus by an American teacher and she did not teach us anything of that story, she wasnt teaching us from British schoolbooks - presumably it was the same information that she had given her American classes, before coming to the UK. She devoted our entire year of learning to American History and Culture, which is all you need to be learning at 8 years-old I suppose.

Was that the guy who used to bounce 600 people 7 days a week making a grand total of 4800 per week?

Your teacher seems to have got further than mine did at that age.

Mine drummed in to us all the details of Columbus, as if she had a strange obsession with him, then we had to build little boats of nina, pinta and santa maria. Them she spent the rest of the term time in stopping that one stupid child in the class from eating the PVA glue ...

Not as hilarious as my secondary school history teachers though! One in particular couldnt pronounce her R's, quite unfortunate as the curriculum she was teaching us at the time was the Romans ...

Maybe most of them did not know who Columbus was. I wouldn't be surprised if that had been the case.

Yes, that's the one. Used to hang out with Wally "The Bike" Raleigh the wacky baccy dealer.

Surely "branding" relates to the name of the fast food outlet rather than names of the products sold!

Not knowing who Columbus was, is one thing, but being sure that he was British is quite another. Lack of History lessons may explain incomplete knowledge, but not incorrect knowledge.

The important part of the task was how well any brand/identity had been thought out and planned, not necessarily how good an idea it was. All 3 of the other team completely failed in that aspect.

I agree. Maybe it was mentioned around the table, but was later edited out by the producers due to the previous reactions from Nick made better TV.

they can't use the internet to verify their facts, and if you've seen past tasks dealing with chefs, tv people, graphic designers, they're taught to not contribute anything, only do as they say. That's why they always look so meek. Must be really frustrating to be a graphic designer and have to produce atrocious designs because you're taught to just do as you're told and not have any inpuy

Although, it should have been obvious that "Columbus" isn't an english surname,

Lots of English people have been called Columbus (still are called Columbus). Did Helen and Tom at any point call their pie "Christopher Columbus Pie - the Christopher Columbus being the one who discovered the Americas in 1492 rather than the American film director who did the first two Harry Potter movies"?

Or did they just call it Columbus Pie? Which could have been named after Paul columbus, James Columbus, Michelle Columbus, Victoria Columbus, Kirsty Columbus, Jean Columbus, Charlotte Columbus, Aaron Columbus, Peter Columbus, Gordon Columbus, Carl Columbus, Lee Columbus, Neil columbus, Deirdrie Columbus, Mark Columbus or Rosaline Columbus. All of who come up on 192.com as being people who live in England with that surname today. And the pie may well have been named after one of their relatives, if not them.

How about "Big Mac" and erm........"Whopper"?

I didn't think they were "brands" but just names of products sold, in the case of "Big Mac" by the brand "McDonalds"? No idea what a "Whopper" is or who sells them, don't eat fast food as you will have guessed by now! Lol.

I'm not too surprised. Don't you guys also have a mexican restaurant that assumes the English can't pronounce Oaxaca?

Good try !

I thought he was a film director!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001060/


(drat, someone already mentioned him. I'm too lazy to read all of this thread)

John Cabot may have been living in Bristol, but he was still a Venetian. As with Columbus, it's the Anglicisation of the name which creates confusion. Cabot was also seeking the spice islands, inspired by Columbus's voyages.

It's possible America was named after Amerike, it's no less likely than it being named after Amerigo Vespucci. However the flag theory is very tenuous. It's not as if the Amerike coat of arms is stars and stripes in the same form as the flag.

George Washington's coat of arms is also stars and stripes (horizontal red and white ones), and seeing as how he was directly involved in the formation of the country it's far more likely the idea of stars and stripes came from him, rather than someone who funded Cabot's voyages long before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_a...s_flag#History

Contrast with the claimed Amerike inspiration for the design:

http://rodneybroome.com/Ameryk/ameryk4.htm

I think it would be a struggle to find many people who'd been taught this in school unless it was specifically on some syllabus somewhere. Very few teachers (from my own experience) teach or even mention anything that's not on the strict guidelines of what will be tested in exams. V annoying.

To be honest, I was laughing more that they thought he'd brought the potato back.

For all we know, it may have been mentioned in the boardroom, but cut for time purposes seeing as the issue had already been brought up during the task. Yes, I know we can't make assumptions, but I can't see LS turning down the opportunity to flaunt his superior knowledge and hindsight

Personally I thought it was because it was a mere general knowledge mistake, and those judging used their own common sense that if it was a real business, Helen and Tom would have internet access to research.

It wasn't a business failure, it was a mistake brought about by the restrictions of the task, which in real world business wouldn't have happened. Why should they have been penalised for that?

I thought he was that TV detective

Hehehehehe, sounds similiar










I may disagree on this point. Technically, you are correct. But if one migrates, resides and works in another country on a permanent basis, arent they then a British citizen regardless of birthplace?

He may have been italian by birth, but I consider him natuarlised enough




Very true!

I prefer to believe it was named after the venture of Amerike and Cabot, however it could have been after Vespucci. The only thing that casts doubt in my mind, is wouldnt Vespucci have named it after his family-name/surname instead of first name?

I agree the flag theory is open to debate. Maybe we will never know. I like to think though that it was after Amerike's coat of arms.

Regardless, us Britons founded the world and made the US what it is today. The US has us to thank eternally for that we colonised North America instead of the Spanairds like in South America.