Talk to any old teacher and they will have amusing stories of pupils' misunderstandings or mishearings. In the old days, these were known as howlers and shared in the common room for colleagues' amusement. Today's teachers are possibly more likely to reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching and be concerened about how their intial reaction to the howler might damage the self-esteem of the pupil. 

Back in the 1950s, howlers were reported to have been recorded in a log and examples were published anonymousdy in the Portmuthian. And so, from 1955, history staff - whose whole raison d'etre rests on the rather dodgy premise that mankind learns from past mistakes - recorded that Hadrian "was a wall" and that the Tolpuddle Matyres were "sentenced to deportment". The following year, a pupil wrote that "Lloyd George was born in Wales fatherless: he increased the death rate on wealthy estates" and that the "Russian Industrial Revolution ended the regime of the Saar". 

No area in the curriculum was safe/ English teacher learned that the witches told MacBeth that "he would not be killed until Birnam Wood came to Bethnal Green" and that MacBeth "was the general of the English fleet". In Maths, "of each triangle is taken away from each other in turn, it will be found that the remainder is equals" and "a triangle with two of its sides equal is called an equatorial triangle".

The Bible provided many opportunities for misinterpretation. In 1978, it was revealed by a Middle School pupil that Jesus told a parable about "the wise and foolish vergers". Another identified the apostle who betrayed Jesus as "Judas is Carrot". You can't trust root vegetables! 

In the days before Google Translate, "Born on the 4th July" became "Nu le quatre juillet", "le bouledogue se roula sur le gazon" became "the bulldog turnned on the street lamp" and "Ministere des Affaires Estrangeres" meant 'Ministry of Strange Affairs'. An autobahn was a "German Garage".

And finally, the subject went unrecorded, but whatever it was "set a problem that will never change from the solution, even though there can really be no answer".