1 in 5 Brits don’t know which countries are in the UK (and half think Everest is our highest mountain)

The United Kingdom: Made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland shown here with the Republic of Ireland, which isn't part of the UK (but of course you knew that...)

Geography teachers may wish to look away now.



One in five British adults don’t know which countries make up the UK, according to new research.

Other gaffes committed by Brits included believing the Australian desert landmark Ayers Rock was located in England, while five per cent thought Stonehenge was a foreign site.

And while those surveyed showed a good knowledge of foreign cities, but closer to home their knowledge was less than impressive.



More than 50 per cent thought that Everest - in the Himalayas - was the UK’s tallest mountain.

In the survey of 2,000 people, 20.6 per cent could not list England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as the four countries comprising the United Kingdom.



Some of the howlers included more than a third of the nation saying they believed the Home Counties of south-east England circle Manchester, Birmingham or Glasgow.

Colossal mistake: Mount Everest, which is in Nepal's Himalayas range - not, as more than half of respondents said, in Britain

And more than half of British adults - 58.6 per cent - confessed they thought Ben Nevis and Snowdon are actually in England, rather than Scotland and Wales.

Ten per cent of those polled have no idea that the Angel of the North, the huge Antony Gormley structure, is even in the UK, let alone in the north-east of England.

And almost a quarter of Brits think Ayers Rock is in Britain, while one in 20 confessed they had no clue that Wiltshire's Stonehenge is also in Britain.

Astonishingly, one in five Brits confessed they don’t know where Blackpool, is located. And the majority, 53 per cent, have no clue where Balmoral Castle is.

Down under: Ayers Rock, which is in Australia's Northern Territory, and not in the UK, as almost a quarter of Brits would have you believe

Almost a third of the nation, 32.3 per cent, don’t know that Canterbury, home to the world famous Canterbury Cathedral, is based in the county of Kent.

Many experts believe that advances in technology and the easy availability of online search engines that provide instant answers to any question anywhere, any time, means people now don’t need to store geographical information like they did before the internet.

Karen Gee, managing director of tour operator Journeys of Distinction, said: 'We were astounded that while Britons clearly have an enviable and broad general knowledge of famous cities abroad – New York, Paris, Rome and many others – they seem to display a lack of geographical awareness when it comes to their own nation.

'It’s such a shame because the UK has so many national treasures for people to experience, right here on their doorstep.'



