Don't presume "everyone knows Ann". My daughter last week came back from a visit to Amsterdam as part of her degree. When passing the Ann Frank museum she had said, "look everyone, that must be where Henry the eighth wife used to live". Guess what she is studying - Art.

Cheers, Ron

Yeah, I dunno Dave. I certainly wasn't aware of the sister either.

Our study of Henry VIII in history in Australian schools is pretty cursory, so unless you had a particular interest in Henry, I don't see why you "should" know that as an arts presenter (they're not historians after all).

Maybe chalk it down to different curriculums?

My Australian girlfriend is reading the book of "The Other Bolyn Girl" and had very little knowledge of the topic beforehand, prompting me to ask just yesterday (in jest, "what did you learn in school?!".

As Stephen says above, Australian school coverage of Henry VIII, and perhaps English History in general, seems pretty cursory.

Doesn't excuse the ABC presenters, of course, who should probably have done some research.

Also, the book is reportedly excellent.

The version of the rhyme that I learned is a little different: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

But then, I know a lot more about the Tudors than most English people I have met (not that I know a lot about them by any means!) and I'm fairly sure that I didn't learn any of it at school. I learnt what I know through personal interest and informal learning.

In South Africa, as in Australia, the English kings of yesteryear do not feature high on the curriculum.

Mind you, almost everything my kids (educated in the UK) know about the Tudors, they learned from me - including the little rhyme above - so I don't think the English kings of yesteryear feature too high on the curriculum here, either!

On the flip side, I have been horrified by the number of people in the UK who have no concept of Africa as a continent consisting of many countries. I have heard a radio interview about the situation in Zimbabwe, where the interviewer made more than one reference to Africa as "a poor country".

So I guess we all have a tendency to assume that other people should know what we know and to be puzzled when they don't.

If you see the film, look out for me standing next to Eric Bana as Henry receiving news of Anne's miscarriage.

OK guys, I am happy to conceed that one should not require an Australian education system to provide a detailed account of tudor histoy (although for most of the population is is a common history). However Mary (the sister) has been a part of several other films and television series and I think that places a different burden on a film critic.

Richard - I will now go and see it

Karyn - I agree it is deeply, deeply depressing along with one US citizen recently who thought Europe was a country.

Ron - I am depressed

If there were 8 wives, how come only 6 are mentioned in the rhyme?

divorced, executed, died, divorced, executed ,survived

What happened to the other two, or, is the rhyme just meant to help someone get a gentleman's C on the test?

@Mitch You're confused. He was Henry VIII (8th), which is where the 8 comes from. He had 6 wives, as indicated in the rhyme.