Rob Halliday

Factual error: Lieutenants Chard (Stanley Baker) and Bromhead (Michael Caine) and nearly all the soldiers defending Rourke's Drift are clean-shaven. Between 1860 and 1916 all British army personnel, from Field Marshall to Private were not allowed to shave their upper lips. The army rigidly enforced this rule. Thus, all the soldiers defending Rourke's Drift sported moustaches. Many had beards, too.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The film was wholly filmed in Morocco, where the scenery, architecture and geography is wholly different to Israel. All the extras are also Moroccans, who look wholly different and wear different clothing to people from Israel (and would have looked equally different in the first century AD). Many extras were members of the Berber community. Berbers have a long tradition of being tattooed, so many extras showed prominent tattoos. But Jews have a traditional aversion to being tattooed, as per Leviticus 19:28.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The movie's title "The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness" is the name of the mission station that Gladys Aylward/Ingrid Bergman sets up. In reality this was called "The Inn Of The Eighth Happiness." Numerology is popular in China, where eight is regarded as a particularly auspicious number. Apparently the film company thought "sixth" had a better ring to it than "eighth." In the movie it is explained that there are six levels of happiness. This is not a Chinese belief and seems to have been invented for the movie.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: Two scenes show aerial views of the cast in a church: this is in fact St Bartholemew The Great in the Smithfield area of London. These show everybody walking on the floor of the church, which is made of Victorian tiles, laid down in the nineteenth century, about 300 years after the age of Queen Elizabeth I (played by Judi Dench) and William Shakespeare.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: At the end, Rolfe suggests to King Harald that they seek "the three crowns of the Saxon kings." But this lost treasure legend is a modern invention. In 1925 M R James wrote "A Warning To The Curious", which says that the Anglo-Saxon kings of East Anglia buried three crowns near the English coast. Somebody who finds one of these meets a mysterious, sinister death. The legend of the three crowns of the Saxon kings has since appeared in many books about English folklore. But there is no record of this story before 1925 and it is now believed that M R James invented it. Thus the story of the three crowns would not have been known to the Vikings.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: In Danny Kaye's song about "The Emperor's New Clothes" he persistently and repeatedly uses the words "the king is in the altogether." Hans Christian Andersen lived from 1805 to 1875, but the expression "in the altogether", meaning naked, was invented and popularised by George Du Maurier in his novel "Trilby" which was not published until 1894.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: Before the spectacular chariot race, we have the "Parade of the Charioteers." Around the arena you see classical statues. They are just props, they do not influence the storyline at all, they are just dotted around the set to remind us that we are in the Roman Empire. All the statues are just plain white stone. Archaeological research shows that the great Greek and Roman sculptors always painted their sculptures. Skin, clothes, eyes, hair, were all carefully painted to make the statues look 100% lifelike. In the next thousand years the paint wore away, and now, when you go to a museum and look at Greek and Roman sculptures you only see plain stone figures. Yet in ancient Greece and Rome all those statues were elaborately painted. This error applies not just to Ben Hur but probably every classical epic film ever made.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The Battle Of Edgehill (on 23 October 1642) was the first full-scale, pitched battle of the Civil War. Although not named as such, this is shown as a total rout for the Parliamentarians/Roundheads, no match for the dashing Royalists/Cavaliers. Cromwell tries to rally his men, but, realising the situation is hopeless, he, too, leaves the field. In historical fact, the Royalist army, advancing on London, met the Parliamentary army at Edgehill. The battle was an inconclusive draw. Both armies suffered equal casualties. Neither side gained or was driven from the field. After Edgehill the Parliamentary army retreated to London. That may have appeared defeatist, but was actually a wise thing to do. The Royalists could have occupied an undefended London, but lacked supplies and material to besiege London if it was defended. Thus, the Royalist army advanced to the outskirts of London but had to withdraw after a few days, after which the Parliamentarians held London for the rest of the war. Cromwell did not fight at Edgehill. On 23 October he was leading a troop to join the main Parliamentary army and did not link up until several days later.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The film tells the stories of five male/female couples. They have conflicting aims in their relationships. For example, one wants to become a parent while the other does not want children. Thus they all obtain supplies of contraceptive pills (in bottles) and re-label them as aspirins or vitamin tablets (or vice versa) depending on whether they want pregnancy or not. The bottles get mixed up, causing panic and anxiety for all involved. All the interlocked stories are based on a complete error. Contraceptive pills are not stored in bottles. Contraceptive pills are packaged in 'blister packs'. This basic fact makes a nonsense of the entire film.

Rob Halliday

Scourge of the West - S1-E1

Factual error: We see how the accident-prone Wilton Parmenter was a soldier at Appotomatox during the Civil War when he sneezed. Union soldiers mistook his sneezing for a call to regroup and charge, winning the battle. Wilton Parmenter was awarded the Medal Of Honour. Accident-prone, even in his moment of glory, when the medal was pinned on Wilton's chest it pierced his skin, drawing blood. Wilton was therefore awarded the Purple Heart, becoming "the only soldier in history to get a medal for getting a medal." This was not possible, for the "Purple Heart" (or "Badge Of Military Merit", to use its proper title) awarded to US soldiers wounded in action, was only instituted in 1932. (Before somebody corrects me, George Washington did institute the award for some distinguished combatants during the War Of Independence, but it was never awarded during the nineteenth century, and revived in 1932).

Rob Halliday

Factual error: This film is about the search for a great golden bell, 'The Mother Of All Voices' that rings incredibly loudly. A bell has a free-standing metal 'clapper' inside, the bell rings when it is moved to make the clapper hit the sides. When they find 'The Mother Of All Voices' it has no clapper, so how can it ring? (The ringing was obviously dubbed in after the film was made). Bells are made of a strong, hardwearing alloy of tin and lead, which reverberates when hit to make a ringing noise. Gold is among the softest of metals. A bell made of gold would never ring, when it was struck the gold would just bend and twist. After its discovery the bell falls off a high cliff, but it is not even dented, in reality anything made of gold would be knocked completely out of shape by such a fall.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: Irena, the central character of Cat People, says she is of Serbian ancestry, and that her ancestors fought the Mamluks for their national freedom. Serbia was part of the Islamic Ottoman Empire between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Mamluks were a military caste who ruled Egypt between 1250 and 1517. To say the Serbs fought the Mamluks for freedom would be comparable to saying that the USA fought the Vikings for independence in 1776.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: At the end of the film the Earl of Manchester is shown setting up corrupt, self-seeking government that will be much worse than the royal regime it has replaced. An enraged Cromwell calls soldiers to drive the Earl of Manchester and his sycophantic supporters from the Houses of Parliament. This scene completely re-writes history. The Earl Of Manchester, was what would now be termed a 'moderate' supporter of the Parliamentary cause, who hoped that Charles I would remain king, but with reduced powers. He did not want to replace the monarchy, or to take over as ruler of the country (in the way that Cromwell eventually would). As Cromwell's power grew the Earl of Manchester's role in affairs shrank. At Charles I's execution he withdrew from government until Cromwell's death, when he assisted the Restoration of Charles II, becoming one of Charles II's most loyal supporters.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The main plot of 'The War Lord' is based on a total fallacy. Chrysagon, a nobleman in eleventh century Normandy, falls in love with Bronwyn. She is betrothed to Marc, a villager on Chrysagon's estate. When Bronwyn and Marc marry Chrysagon claims 'Droit Du Seigneur', a law that a lord is allowed to sleep with a lesser man's wife on their wedding night. It is often asserted, even by some medieval historians, that 'Droit Du Seigneur' was legally enforced in the middle ages, but no reference to the practice has ever been found in any surviving medieval law code, legal text book, or historical source. It is first mentioned in the sixteenth century, and then as a discontinued practice from a barbarous past (like human sacrifice or cannibalism) but the earliest accounts of the custom do not provide any verifiable sources, suggesting that it originated in over-active minds of writers of popular romances.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: Rolfe is leading the Vikings on a quest to find a giant golden bell, 'The Mother Of All Voices'. After many exploits the Vikings find a building with a large dome on it: Rolfe excitedly enters it, but all he finds is one small metal bell, hanging from a rope. In his anger he grabs the small bell and smashes it against the wall. This causes a horrible reverberation, and he realises that the dome on top of the building is 'The Mother Of All Voices' and it has been disguised by being covered with mortar to make it look like a building. The Vikings then remove the mortar to find the bell beneath. But a bell will only reverberate if it is allowed to hang free: the noise is made by the vibrations as the bell moves. If a bell is locked in position and it is then struck it might make a single clang, but it would not reverberate constantly.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: In the religious service there are some incredible mistakes that are really obvious to a historian whose speciality is medieval church architecture. The scene is filmed in St Bartholemew The Great Church in London, which was founded in 1123 and built during Henry I's reign: thus it would have been standing by the reign of Richard The Lionheart, when the film is set. However, several seventeenth century memorials can be seen on the walls of the church, and even a modern wooden hymn board. Some of the upper windows of the church were added in the fifteenth century: we see these on several occasions. The glass in the windows is obviously modern, and while the interior walls of medieval churches were elaborately painted, the walls and stonework are plain and bare. (Admittedly it might have been rather expensive to install coloured medieval stained glass and paint the interior walls, so perhaps we can let that go.) There is a later scene in St. Bartholemew the Great in which a modern altar, candlesticks and metalwork can be seen.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: Felicie, her rival Camille, and the other young dancers in the ballet school are all hoping to dance the part of Clara in a prestigious production of 'The Nutcracker'. The film shows the Eiffel Tower being built: this took place between 1887 and 1889. Tchaikovsky did not compose The Nutcracker until 1892. Also, early performances of The Nutcracker were unsuccessful. It was only from the 1930's that The Nutcracker became a popular work.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The film shows the Eiffel Tower under construction. Several scenes of the film are set in Gustave Eiffel's workshop, where The Statue of Liberty is being assembled (the unfinished statue is the setting for a confrontation between Felicie and Regine). But the Statue of Liberty was transported to New York in 1885 where it was dedicated in 1886. Construction of the Eiffel Tower only started in 1887.

Rob Halliday

Factual error: The Battle of Stirling (Bridge) is shown inaccurately in the film: the English and Scots line up on a battlefield and proceed to set about each other, with the Scots winning, with no bridge in sight. In the actual battle the English were crossing a bridge over the River Forth. The bridge was narrow, so they had to file down into small ranks. Wallace and the Scots waited at the top of a hill until half the army had crossed, then, before the English had time to regroup and form battle lines, the Scots charged down the hill and massacred the unprepared English.

Rob Halliday