One in five Britons think Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and even Blackadder were genuine historical figures



Twenty per cent of Britons believe the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Blackadder are based on historical personalities, a survey has found.

Others believe there was a real Captain Mainwaring leading the nation's home defence during the war and that Dad's Army was based on him. Others think Clark Kent and Indiana Jones were genuine people too, according to Ask Jeeves.

The confusion between fact and fiction goes both ways, it has emerged, with other respondents to the survey believing Che Guevara, Florence Nightingale and outlaw Jesse James were fictional, not real.

Blurring the lines between fact and fiction? 20 per cent of people wrongly think Sherlock Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch, left) and Blackadder (with Rowan Atkinson, right) are based on historical figures



Ask Jeeves commissioned the survey after noticing a rise in the number of queries it receives asking for biographies and other personal details such as a family tree, for fictional characters.

A poll of 1,000 adults found a fifth of people struggled to tell the difference between onscreen characters and real figures.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous literary creation Sherlock Holmes has been most recently seen in a Guy Ritchie blockbuster and a hit BBC series, yet 21 per cent of people surveyed thought the detective was a real person.

A similar number think Miss Marple – soon to be played on film by Jennifer Garner - was real when she is actually another fictional detective, created by Agatha Christie.

Most incredibly, one in five respondents thought Edmund Blackadder was a genuine historical figure, even though the comic creation appeared in a BBC series set in four very different eras.

More than a third think pirate Long John Silver was real, not realising he is a character in the novel Treasure Island, others believe Hercule Poirot is real and a small number even think Batman and Doctor Who are based on truth.



Series sleuths: Miss Marple (with Joan Hickson in the role, left) and Hercule Poirot (starring David Suchet, right) have been seen solving crimes for years - but their exploits are wholly fictional



One in three people says that Hollywood is responsible for the confusion because historical dramas are presented as true stories.

And 16 per cent say the current obsession with celebrity means even fictional characters take on a life of their own for audiences.

But it works the other way round too as even authentic figures, once they have been given the Hollywood treatment, are perceived as being the creations of a movie studio or TV mini-series.

Four in ten do not realise that Erin Brockovich was really a campaigning legal worker and think she was a fictional character played by Julia Roberts.

Jesse James and Billy the Kid were real cowboys but after being in so many Western movies, many think they were invented along with Indian chief Geronimo.

The poll also revealed that the authenticity of Robin Hood confuses many, just as it confounds historians. Sixty-six per cent of people polled thought he was real and 34 per cent thought he was not.

Ask Jeeves spokeswoman Nadia Kelly said: 'Some of the confusion is possibly justified - a lot of people hadn't heard of Erin Brockovich until the movie.

'And Sherlock Holmes has been given such a depth of character in both TV and movies that many assume he must have been a real detective once upon a time.

'But while it would be nice to think Indiana Jones was real, it seems staggering that anyone would think there really was an Edmund Blackadder.'