Historical Bloopers

Five people talk about historical

inaccuracies in films.

A. DAVID ROBIN
HOOD

Robin Hood is a great film

about the 13th century English
folk hero who stole from the
rich to give to poor. But don’t
go see it if you want to learn
any history! I’m a watchmaker, so I laughed my head off
when one of the characters told another to be in his room
at “quarter past 10”. This may not sound particularly
funny, but there’s a small problem…the first real clock as
we know it was invented in 1386, and minute hands were
only added in 1557. Until then, people couldn’t count
minutes! Oh yes, another small thing- Robin’s companion,
Azeem, uses a telescope. You’ve got to bear in mind that
this film takes place about 400 years before the telescope
was invented by Galileo Galilei! And while I’m complaining
… why does Robin Hood have an American
accent?

B. EMILY GLADIATOR

I’ve just seen a film about the gladiators in

ancient Rome. They were slaves or
prisoners of war who were made to fight
each other in order to entertain the citizens of Rome.
Sometimes gladiators were rented out by their owners to
people who wanted to hold games, but generally speaking
they didn’t fight more than three times in one year. I’m
really into Roman civilization and was looking forward to
seeing the film. Unfortunately, not enough attention was
paid to small details, which is quite typical of Hollywood
film-makers. This really spoiled the film for me. For
example, Gladiator is set in the second century, and I
could quite easily spot people wearing jeans. There’s also
a girl who is wearing modern bracelets and a watch, and
someone else is holding a plastic bottle in a crowd scene.
Another thing, there are glass bottles on tables outside
some restaurants and people are drinking from glasses.
Nothing could be further from the truth- no ordinary
restaurant could have afforded such items, as glass was
very expensive in those days.

C. SALLY SHAKESPEARE IN
LOVE

We’re studying the Elizabethan era in

history. Since William Shakespeare was
the greatest English writer then (some
say ever!) and we’ve learned quite a bit about him, I
thought I’d see the film Shakespeare in Love. Many of
Shakespeare’s plays were based on historical events, but
critics often say that he didn’t take historical facts into
account when he was writing. Well, it seems that the film-
makers didn’t either! One character talks about going to
her future husband’s tobacco plantation in the English
colony of Virginia, in America. However, the film takes
place in 1593 and there were no English tobacco
plantations in America then- the first permanent English
settlement in America was only established in Jamestown,
Virginia, in 1607. Yet, despite these inaccuracies, the film
was very enjoyable.
 D. GEORGE TROY

My first thought when I took my grandson to see Troy was

that my old history teacher must be turning in his grave!
He’d have a fit if he knew what the film –makers had done
to the story of the Trojan War. Admittedly, the reason for
the war – the kidnapping of Queen Helen by Paris, Prince
of Troy – has all the makings of great Hollywood film, but
when all is said and done, I found the film annoying
because the producers had gone too far. First of all,
anyone who goes to see the film and doesn’t know the
story will get the impression that the war lasted about
three weeks or so. It actually lasted for 10 years. And the
personal histories of certain leading characters have been
drastically changed. The real Paris was killed during the
war, but in the film he survives and makes off with Helen.
Achilles, who in the film is present when the famous horse
is given to the Trojans, was actually killed before this
event took place. So much for detail!

E. BILL PEARL HARBOR

Pearl Harbor is an amazing film. It brought back a lot of

memories from my childhood in Hawaii. You see, I was a
teenager living in Hawaii back in 1941 when we were
attacked by the Japanese and the USA entered World War
II. In fact, I can still remember watching the
attack. Some parts of the film were so
realistic that they actually brought tears to
my eyes. On the other hand, one thing really
made me laugh. There’s a scene where one
of the girls is wearing a bikini. The bikini
swimsuit first appeared right after the Americans exploded
a nuclear bomb near the bikini islands in the Pacific
Ocean, and since the designer wanted this swimsuit to
have the same effect, he called it the bikini. This
happened, if my memory serves me correctly, in 1945-
four years after the attack on Pearl Harbor!

Worksheet 1

VOCABULARY
From the text
1) Find the words hidden in the
wordsnake using the spacebar and
mark each word with a different
color

Sethereceuisbialsoaxsslgirlzaspwhois
mlkwearingpruymodernqwjfbracelets
npw

2) Find in the text the word film and

how often it appears in it using the
 appropriate order of the Microsoft
Office Word

3) Match the words below by drawing

lines to form collocations

i. Have a) forward
to
ii. Get b
attention to
iii. Take
c)memories
iv.Pay d)the
impression
v. Look e)a fit
vi.Brink back d)into
account

1) Fill in the gaps using the

collocations above. Use copy and
paste. Then make any necessary
changes.
 a. Alison’s mother …had a fit….when she saw the
mess in her daughter’s bedroom.
b. Gladiator………………………….. of our trip to
Rome.
c. I…………………………………… that the film-
makers didn’t research the film properly.
d. Our teacher gets quite annoyed when we don’t
……………………………….. what she is saying.
e. There are some film-makers that
don’t……………………historical
facts………………………….. when they make a
film.
f. I’m…………………………….. the weekend. Aren’t
you?

1) Complete the board below. You have

to use the Thesaurus in order to find
the antonyms and put them next to
their pair of the words given.

ANTONYMS

Funny
Inaccuracies
Drastically
Particularly
Slaves
Attack
Facts
permanent

2)Put a tick next to the right

sentence.

1. Robin’s companion, Henry, uses a

telescope. ✔
2. Gladiators fight each other in order to
entertain
the citizens of Rome.
3. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were
based on historical events.
4. The reason of the Trojan War was
the kidnapping of Queen Helen by Paris,
Prince of Sparta.
5. The American’s exploded a nuclear
bomb near the Bikini islands in the
Pacific Ocean.
1)Find the odd ones and color them in
red.

➢ 1)Gladiators 2) Slaves 3) Romans 4)

Prisoners

➢ 1)Film 2)Television 3) Movie 4) Video

clip

➢ 1)Director 2) Author 3) Writer 4)

Composer

➢ 1)Colony 2) Province 3) Settlement 4)

Island

➢ 1)Famous 2) Well-known 3) Reputable 4)

Naughty
 Worksheet 2

GRAMMAR
Gerunds, infinitives

1)Choose the correct form of the

verbs in brackets by coloring it
in green.

a) It’s late. There is no use………(go) out

now.
1. going 2.go 3.to go

a) Would you mind……………(open) the

window?
1. opening 2.open 3.to open
a) I wouldn’t like…………….. (be) outdoors in
this heat.
1. being 2.be 3.to be

a) They let us……………………. (leave) school

early today.
1. leaving 2.leave 3.to leave

a) The lawyer advised his client……………….

(remain) silent.
1. remaining 2.remain 3.to remain

a) After …………………. (hear) the news I

phoned Jane.
1. hearing 2.hear 3.to hear

a) Jim asked me……………………… (help) him

with his project.
1. helping 2.help 3.to help

a) Do you feel like ……………(take) a walk.

1. taking 2.take 3.to help

a) It was careless of the producer……………..

(make) so many mistakes.
1. making 2.make 3.to make

a) We arranged ……………(meet) at the

cinema.
1. meeting 2.meet 3.to meet
 1) Put the sentences of the text
below in the right order so that
it makes sense. Use cut and
paste, also spacebar where it is
necessary.

Doug: Youdidn’t seem tobe in a very good mood.

What’s wrong? Hi Amy!
Amy: I’ve been putting itoff and now I have to
finish it by tomorrow. Oh, it’s nothing really.Our
English teacherhas asked us to read Shakespeare’s
play, Macbeth.Homework problems!
On the otherhand, I don’t want to get a low mark
for this project. I really don’t know what to do.On
 the onehand, Idon’t feellike spending thewhole
night reading a play but

The causative
use the CAUSATIVE to say that we arrange for someone else to do something for us!
2) Watch the video of The Simpsons
and write down every sentence
which is in the causative form