DIARY
The majority of children today have to choose between history and geography for their GCSEs. Who has decided that these various groupings of subjects cannot be studied together? It is not just state schools whose resources are sorely stretched these days, but schools of every type. I long to hear a convincing justification for this philis- tine practice. I went to rather a lot of schools and increasingly regret that I did not learn more history. Patterns of human behaviour repeat themselves, and the insights and wisdom of those who lived cen- turies ago can be extraordinarily illuminat- ing today. I have found great pleasure in a book I probably would not have discovered myself, which has just been sent to me by a friend. Memoirs of Hadrian by the Belgian scholar Marguerite Yourcenar is a remark- able portrait of Hadrian (he of the Wall), Roman emperor AD 117-138. It is written in the form of a letter to his successor, Mar- cus Aurelius; as Hadrian faces death, he examines his life, weighs it up and judges it. It's an enthralling mix of the history of the last great period of the Roman Empire, woven through with Hadrian's reflections on his rule, his lovers — both men and women — fidelity, sleep, his greatest pleasures, the transience of human existence, and his inescapable sense that his life has been a `shapeless mass' characterised by diversity and disorder. (I find that comforting.) He was a humanist, often racked by doubts, who studied mathematics as well as the arts, and medicine, which he thought might have suited him. He confesses to ruling his empire in Latin, but to thinking and living in Greek. (But then the Greeks invented and the Romans followed.) It is a work of great intelligence and imagination, a tale of one of the turning-points in human civilisation. Flaubert wrote of that same period: 'Just when the gods ceased to be and the Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone.' And the most powerful man in the world at that moment of total darkness was Hadrian. ANNA FORD It is 400 years since the death of Philip II of Spain, whose empire in its heyday, stretching as it did from the Americas across Europe to the Philippines, was far larger than that of Hadrian (who, inciden- tally, was born in Spain). Commemorations have started this week with an exhibition at El Escorial, the vast monastery-palace built by Philip on the outskirts of Madrid. But, interestingly, the teaching of history is under scrutiny in Spain too. In fact it has become highly contentious and is causing the present government some problems. Esperanza Aguirre, the education and cul- ture minister, has tried to introduce legisla- tion creating a common curriculum in his- tory for Spanish schoolchildren, shocked as she and her colleagues were to find that many left school without a notion of who Philip II was. But Basque and Catalan nationalists and others are fiercely oppos- ing the imposition of a single version of his- tory from the capital, and it has reopened the whole debate about the identity — or identities — of Spain, identities and quali- ties which appear with such force, clarity and beauty in the poems and plays of Fed- erico Garcia Lorca, who was born near Granada 100 years ago this week. Sadly, of the 50 million or so tourists who visit Spain each year, few probably see or think of
much beyond the hotels and the beaches. But Spain today has much to celebrate, economically, culturally and socially. There are the extraordinary achievements in democracy since Franco's death in 1975 during a period of intense social change. There is a new mood of economic confi- dence based on expansion and unprece- dentedly low inflation, and, as one of the founder-members of the euro, Spain seems happy to lead the way in abandoning its national currency. When Real Madrid beat Juventus in a nail-bitingly exciting game for the European Cup, the first they had won for 32 years, Madrid celebrated for two days. This week Spain's tennis stars have swept the board in both the men's and women's finals in the French Open and Spanish confidence is riding high. Before the queues become impossible, I am going to see Frank Geary's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the brainchild of a mayor with real style who during his morning jog saw a site on the waterfront and commissioned this titanium dream. (What chance is there that we'll get a mayor with such bravura in London?)
Kw Gardens has suffered from the years of drought just as many smaller gar- dens have. So all sorts of schemes for water conservation, root protection and boring for new water supplies have been going on. But the heavy rains this year make it well worth a visit just to experience the abun- dant greenness and wonderful smells. The many scientists at Kew, always world lead- ers, are working harder and more effective- ly than ever. Above all they are working on the task of storing seeds from all over the world, for we are now, worldwide, losing more than ten biological species (not just plants) each day. If by chance it rains too hard to see some of the tens of thousands of different plants, then go to the newly reopened Museum No. 1. It stands across the lake from the world-famous palm house and there you will find the story of man's ingenious and effective use of plants. For instance, over a quarter of the drugs used in Western medicine come from natural sources. Willow is the source of aspirin, snakeroot can help to regulate blood pres- sure, the opium poppy provides two impor- tant pain-killers, morphine and codeine. Plants provide clothes, hats, soap, paper, baskets, boxes and musical instruments. Kew is a treasure-house of extraordinary things from all over the world. And now it is also an important education centre with resources for schools and adults. (A family season ticket for Kew Gardens costs £38 a year. It opens every day except Christmas and New Year's Day. Ring 0181 332 5000 for details.)
Previous page
