tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post5114443427567800335..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: On Being Rubbish at History Catherine JohnsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-30576099028140257122013-11-13T11:20:23.339+00:002013-11-13T11:20:23.339+00:00I just walked into my 10 year old son's bedroo...I just walked into my 10 year old son's bedroom and found him reading my very favorite book at his age R.J.Unstead's Looking at history, Queen Anne to Queen Elizabeth.I was obsessed by the cruelty to children, the frocks and hair, the fact that everybody shared the same filthy soupy bath and the abstract and unfathomable concept of this alien world of 'the past'. This totally changed my perspective and perception for the rest of my life.I bought books, researched, was determined to study archaeology, I dressed like a character from a period novel well into my twenties and I instead studied costume design at a prestigious institute to satiate my passion.<br />I took geology and ancient history in yrs 11 and 12 to assist with the archaeology and was bored to death with ancient history, failed, failed, FAILED. Wars...WARS.I just couldn,t care about Hannibal, Pompey and Caesar.There was no humanity, colour or women!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11427944481132812077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-16935988533067830202011-07-16T20:16:19.325+01:002011-07-16T20:16:19.325+01:00I must find out more about this person from Dolgel...I must find out more about this person from Dolgellau - I'd never even heard of the town before my parents moved there a few years ago!<br /><br />I found Roman history very boring at school, all labelling the parts of a centurion's uniform and rooms of a villa. When I watched I, Claudius I realised it was more interesting than that!Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-45996125406294685712011-07-14T16:30:54.864+01:002011-07-14T16:30:54.864+01:00Yes me, too. When I went to Grammar School, our h...Yes me, too. When I went to Grammar School, our history lessons started with the Egyptians. I don't suppose I knew where Egypt was at that time and I certainly couldn't care less about something call a shadoof I seem to remember. It wasn't until we arrived at the Industrial Revolution just before I took O levels that I understood what history was all about for I lived in Rochdale and was surrounded by the remnants of it. That was when I fell in love with history.Barbara Mitchelhillhttp://barbaramitchelhill.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-75370622297276911542011-07-14T11:22:06.570+01:002011-07-14T11:22:06.570+01:00Ding-dong here, too. History at school was all tre...Ding-dong here, too. History at school was all treaties and wars and nothing ton do with the vagaries of human nature. I never got to grips with the foundations of democracy via the Magna Carta and Simon de Montfort or learned anything else about Elizabeth I apart from the fact she handed out a lot of trade monopolies to her cronies. Heavens, I didn't even know what the word meant.<br /><br />Historical fiction was what got be back into history after I gave it up. Well-written and entertaining fiction drew me back to the 'real' stuff and taught me it was about people.Sally Zigmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07520579251842006765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-6750643425548989132011-07-14T09:41:32.109+01:002011-07-14T09:41:32.109+01:00How many bells does this ring with me?! O level hi...How many bells does this ring with me?! O level history for my class was the Corn Laws and the Industrial Revolution, in the most dry, dry, dry form possible, it seemed. The exam: multi-choice questions. No stories, it felt like, no-one to identify with... Thank goodness you got your history groove back! Will look up that Peter Fryer book right now.H.M. Castorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08716936870601385683noreply@blogger.com