# Historical myths DEBUNKED! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251 "2025-08-19T02:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/221 "2025-08-26T18:50:51Z")
Nah: if he were a sovereign citizen he clearly would have _travelled_ off. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/222 "2025-08-26T19:00:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “” Mortimer stated. “He was attached to the SAS and SOE as an RAF liaison officer at various times between 1943 and 1945, but he did not serve in them.” That is a nitpick. Lots of that stuff never got made public, also. Not even close to a nitpick. At best he helped those units in the rear echelon not as an operator. Read the entire article. It goes on to say that none of the troops involved were kept from discussing their roles. It’s a lot like fake Navy SEALs always say what they did was classified to avoid too many questions. Lee’s name is not on any official paperwork where it would be found if he was involved in what he claimed. It’s not really disputed anymore that he embellished. His stories just don’t add up. Some fans refuse to believe it because the lie is more interesting than the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/223 "2025-08-26T20:01:33Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Nah: if he were a sovereign citizen he clearly would have _travelled_ off. Actually, given the Dred Scott decision was still in effect at the time, Grant could have been a state citizen without being a United States citizen. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/224 "2025-08-27T00:32:35Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Not even close to a nitpick. At best he helped those units in the rear echelon not as an operator. I am reading A Bridge too Far and several members of the British army “attached” were fighting with those units, even on the front line. Things got pretty fluid in war. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/225 "2025-08-27T00:34:43Z")
The Rosenbergs were in fact Soviet Agents and committed nuclear espionage. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/226 "2025-08-27T00:36:30Z")
Yes, we now have confirmation, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/227 "2025-08-27T01:34:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > Not even close to a nitpick. At best he helped those units in the rear echelon not as an operator. > > I am reading A Bridge too Far and several members of the British army “attached” were fighting with those units, even on the front line. Things got pretty fluid in war. There is absolutely no evidence of that. He did have some close calls in the rear area during air raids but there is absolutely no evidence he was involved in close combat. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/228 "2025-08-27T11:28:01Z")
I see what you did there. I’d laugh, but I’m a little hoarse. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/229 "2025-08-27T13:07:03Z")
Maybe not a full-blown historical myth, but a misconception I often hear, is that since the average life span in the past was so much lower ([40 yo globally in the year 1800](https://www.verywellhealth.com/longevity-throughout-history-2224054)), many assume that people actually aged more quickly and all dropped dead by 40 or so. But it’s an _average_ life span, skewed down by the high amount of infant mortality-- before vaccination, modern antibiotics and sanitation techniques had been developed. If you lived past childhood and didn’t get yourself killed in a war, you had a good chance of living into your 70s or even 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/230 "2025-08-27T13:24:04Z")
I don’t know that it’s _that_ extreme. I think in the late 1800s the life expectancy for a 50-year-old was about 8 or so years less than it is today. I think the 80s is a little past ‘good chance.’ (Going from memory from something I read some years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/231 "2025-08-27T15:57:47Z")
Not terribly historical, but: Hot pan, cold oil: foods won’t stick. The real reason that was taught for generations in Home Ec classes was to keep home cooks from putting oils in a cold pan, turning the burner on, letting the pan come to temperature while they continue with other prep activities, only to turn around and see a raging fire in the pan because they lost track of time. It’s ok for a dry pan to overheat - it might damage the pan, but it won’t start a kitchen fire - but if you overheat oil, things can get quite exciting very quickly. Jeff Smith (The Frugal Gourmet) was famous for repeating this myth. A LOT. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/232 "2025-08-27T16:40:35Z")
Some things I think have always been known by historians but not necessarily the general public. Who was the first person to sail around the world? Magellan always gets credit but he died in the Philippines. Nobody knows the name of the guy who actually got the last surviving ship back home. Let alone the names of the rest of the crew who also circumnavigated the globe. By “nobody knows” I mean it’s not common knowledge. The info is readily available in the googles though. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/233 "2025-08-27T17:07:47Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Aha! Now we know what the “S” letter for his middle name was referring to… 😉 I suspect you know very well that Grant had no “S” initial. His first name was Hiram, but he scarpered away from that because no one wants to be a warrior with initials HUG. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/234 "2025-08-27T17:09:51Z")
Nobody knows who Sebastian Elcano was? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/235 "2025-08-27T17:42:02Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Who was the first person to sail around the world? Magellan always gets credit but he died in the Philippines. Nobody knows the name of the guy who actually got the last surviving ship back home. Let alone the names of the rest of the crew who also circumnavigated the globe. By the time Magellan’s ships left Asia many of Magellan’s sailors had already circumnavigated the world because of previous voyages there from the West. They started their eventual circumnavigation from Asia years before. The first man to circumnavigate the globe is generally considered to be Magellan’s Malay slave, Enrique. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/236 "2025-08-27T17:48:54Z")
How is every crew member on the boat who stepped off in Sanlucar after having stepped on the boat there several years before not the first man to circumnavigate the globe? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/237 "2025-08-27T17:51:51Z")
As I pointed out above, the first man to circumnavigate the globe did not start in Sanlucar. If you want to talk about the first ship or expedition, that might be the answer; but not first person. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/238 "2025-08-27T17:58:37Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Who was the first person to sail around the world? Magellan always gets credit but he died in the Philippines. They usually credit it as his Voyage. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/239 "2025-08-27T18:07:49Z")
I think Magellan is an example of a common myth. The Great man of history myth. It’s the Strait of Magellan not the Strait of Enrique from Malacca. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/240 "2025-08-27T18:09:59Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > It’s the Strait of Magellan not the Strait of Enrique from Malacca. Magellan did do that bit, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=13)