Ahhh....not a history fan then. Without the history we have had, we wouldn't be the people we are today. If you want to understand today's society in full, then you need to know how it came about.
The trouble is, those questions are so isolated from the full story that they tell us very little. If someone has learned the answers from a book, they won't know why they know it, they'll just parrot the results. Knowing that Cromwell deposed Charles I doesn't tell the applicant anything, it doesn't even tell them when it happened, unless the look up the dates. It certainly doesn't tell them anything about the result, or why we later returned to a monarchy.
Given that so many 'natives' would fail, I think all it proves is that people who want to immigrate are capable of learning some facts.
Frankly, all I want immigrants to know is the Highway Code, a basic understanding of the law (which, lets face it is generally pretty similar around the world, in terms of theft, murder, assault etc), enough English to get by, an open attitude to others and nice manners, which is what I'd like all my fellow citizens to have - sadly, it seems to be a struggle for a lot of native Brits....
13 for me, with a couple of educated guesses.
- 11/15, so I guess I have to stay 
