from Church of England Media Centre
The Lord’s Prayer is still more easily instantly recognised by the British public than some of the most famous lines from Shakespeare, Dickens or Churchill, new research suggests.
People in the UK are more likely to identify correctly a short extract from the Lord’s Prayer – also known as the Our Father – than one from the National Anthem and other sources chosen for their deep cultural resonance, a new poll has found.
The polling, carried out for the Church of England ahead of the annual Pentecost prayer initiative Thy Kingdom Come
, also found the reference in the prayer to being forgiven and forgiving others was the element people found most meaningful to them.
Pollsters Savanta surveyed more than 2,000 people across the UK. They asked them to match seven famous lines – spanning areas ranging from literature and history to popular culture – with their source, from a list of correct answers.
The famous literary lines were “To be or not to be”, from Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, and the opening to Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
From British history, people were asked if they recognised the phrase “Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few” – Churchill’s stirring words in the House of Commons in August 1940 amid the Battle of Britain.
Famous musical lyrics offered were “You’ll never walk alone” which was a hit for Gerry and the Pacemakers – also the anthem of Liverpool FC; and “Happy and glorious / Long to reign over us,” from God Save The King.