Yes, the original answer to Leonardo's Last Supper's location was ...Salisbury! I think Adam Hart-Davis gave this as an answer! He he!
Jenny x

Unbelievable!

And the woman who eventually got it admitted she was guessing.

I have nothing against guessing, which is often the word we use to describe what happens when memory provides us with information we didn't know we knew.

But Burns was such a *bad* guess - wrong century entirely.

Yes, it indicated a complete ignorance of 18th and 19th century cultural history.

Specialists specialise- they may be broad as the dung of the porcine on other matters! :o)

So it seems...

We have a radio show called "Wait, wait, don't tell me" that does a similar thing, inviting a famous and accomplished person to answer questions about things they no nothing about. It's enlightening.

It's good to see idols totter a little.

Yes. I have spent a lot of time around PhDs in academia. Most of them know squat about anything except their personal area of expertise.

I'm always a little surprised at how incurious people are.

And yet somehow think they can sneer at those who aren't in academia. Give me someone with street smart common sense than someone with a PhD in an obscurity any day.

My ex-partner has a PhD in Astronomy, but works as a seismologist. She was always totally amazed when I would do something like fix the toilet or change a door nob. I always felt like she appreciated my very practical skills.

She probably did, as it would likely never occur to her that she could learn to do it herself.

She probably actually has. She's been living alone for years now, although, I have heard her talk about calling plumbers and the like. So, I don't know.