Why History?

It's not quite there yet but Channel 5 in the UK is increasingly creating good documentaries. I particularly liked their Vikings series based mostly on Cnut's invasion. Several of the C5 series have included Raksha Dave who featured on Time Team. It got me thinking about how Coventry was attacked by Cnut's henchman and then rebuilt under Cnut too.

Yes, Anne, I'm counting planes, trains and automobiles as history. And of course Historic Coventry... although I think that the breakfast meetups are more about the food and great company.

What a super new topic you've introduced, Helen! 17 posts (18 now!) in the first few hours, and all are providing us with more ideas for watching history on TV or even getting out and visiting historic places. Lubbly jubbly!

Helen, I think History is a very social thing, whether it is chatting to somebody online that you are never likely to meet (or meeting by off chance in the Herbert !) or sitting next to somebody at a car show, you are there because you have a common interest. With family tree I have had online chats with distant cousins that I never knew existed and even met up with one or two. So it might be history but it brings it into the present.

DITTO Time Team for me. It certainly changed my observation skills on the landscape. Not just the landscape around me, but also Google Earth and observing the lie of the land from space. Mick Aston, Phil Harding, Stewart Ainsworth, Carenza Lewis from the original team. Just to add, Ruth Goodman and Lucy Worsley often make good historical presentations.

I've been racking my brain trying to remember any of the history I did in school and very little comes to mind. I know that we did quite a bit on the Industrial Revolution, which I didn't hate but didn't love either. A visit to Ironbridge was a highlight. The kids programme How We Used To Live featured but that might have been in primary school. The Greeks and Romans were dealt with under a separate subject called Classical Studies but that was an O level subject. We certainly never looked at history in a chronological order, so there was nothing about which kings and queens or events followed each other. It was relatively recently that I realised that the great pyramids were older than Stonehenge. Somewhat humbling. Clearly what I studied had so little impact on my imagination that it dribbled out of my memory when I wasn't looking. Question 3 What did you dislike or find boring about history, at school or later? My Answer I couldn't really see the point of history and in some ways I still can't. I have to have a reason to know something to remember it. So I now remember how George I got to the throne because he's related to James I's daughter princess Elizabeth, who was almost kidnapped in Coventry during the Gun Powder Plot. My interest in history is almost entirely connected to buildings - which is geography and art, two of my favourite subjects at school.

I started to be interested at school when we studied the period after the Restoration for GCE. In parallel with that I read a lot of historic fiction at that time, pirates, wars etc. and would look up and follow events that were outlined in, or subject of said books. I have continued all my life. And it is true that history repeats itself. You can plot some of the present disastrous events of today and predict by reference to the past.

Question 3 What did you dislike or find boring about history, at school or later? I detested history at school, it all seemed so pointless at the time, and definitely wasn't taught in an interesting fashion. But then most subjects weren't taught in an interesting way, most seemed so enforced reciting dates and events. For me, the interest came about where someone took the time to show and explain (Time Team was very good with that), with the added plus my son at the time was at school so it was an opportunity to spend time with him. I think these days, even without computers, teachers engage more with the students than in my day.

Thought-provoking. I haven't had a TV for years, don't miss it, and refuse to pay a licence fee to have 50 or more channels of drivel available. So it wasn't TV that got me interested in history. Read on please. From an early age, about 5, I was never interested in fiction (still am not - well it's all make-believe and fantasy), but fascinated by engineering. Having a father who was an engineer was a big influence. He was also brilliant at art and music, but neither of those rubbed off on me. So I hated school from the age of 5 until escaping a week before the 17th anniversary of my date of birth. (I've only ever had one birthday, and that was the day I was born in Keresley hospital.) School subjects: history - all in the past, so completely irrelevant; geography - all about foreign land - I wasn't even interested in England! RI - did they really expect me to believe this stuff? PE and games - I was useless, and had zero interest; art - wasting time slapping paint onto paper; general science - loved it for the first year or so, then physics and chemistry got so boring I switched off; and biology - I was always squeamish; maths - basic stuff very strong, still is - well you can't do science or engineering without maths - but set theory and trig identities - never got it; language was different - looked at it once, got it, dead simple, why were the other kids struggling? Top in class without putting any effort in; homework - sorry, I'd endured an 8-hour day, I had my own things to do in the evening, so this was just rubbing salt into the prison sentence wound. The problem with our education system is its "one size fits all" mentality. I was always a late developer. It's only in recent years that I've read books - factual, not fiction. History now fascinates me. I quite like geography too. And school never taught me the important stuff I wish I'd known when I left school: real money (gold and silver) versus fiat currency; the FTSE 100, the S&P 500, gilts, bonds, loan notes, funds, VAT, NI, income tax, council tax... None of these on the national curriculum, because the government does not want the general public to get on.

Hello, This is fabulous conversation. Seeing differences that make us who we are. I do like history because I love people. Even when we do nasty things to one another. When I'm buying something, groceries or general merchandise, I nearly always look at the reviews. Minding that they might be insider implicated. If I'm looking at history, I often look to see who else might have an opinion, particularly if they are not bedfellows. I've been looking this morning (staying indoors), at arguments between scientists going back sixty years, where there's a howler going on now, as to variations on the speed of light. Folks living in Binley Woods would be delighted if broadband speed was higher than 20mph!

Fantastic replies so far, many thanks. Before I move on I thought I'd see if you guys had anymore thoughts on the first three questions. We have seen many questions about how Coventry could become more attractive to visitors but this topic is trying to determine if Coventry's history, museum and archives could be more attractive to people. Question 1 What have been your favourite TV programmes that have spawned interest in things historical? Question 2 Are there any TV shows that made you want to visit a museum or location eg Something about the Mary Rose or the Globe theatre or do you just choose to visit places because you're nearby? Question 3 What did you dislike or find boring about history, at school or later?

Question 1: I have not watched broadcast television for many years. I may be the only sighted person in the UK who has not watched an episode of "Coronation Street"! Historical drama does not interest me but I would watch "Fred Dibnah" and similar programmes. Question 2: I think my visits to museums and exhibition are triggered by a need to understand the experiences of those involved, why they made the decisions they did. Apart from technical books I read biography. Question 3: I echo Slim's experiences of education. My mind always concentrated on 'Why and 'How' and not 'What'. I needed to satisfy a need to know how 'things' worked. History seemed, when young, to require memory of facts when one was too immature to understand the 'Why' of human nature. I did not fit well with the horizontal approach to learning that required one to remember a few facts before changing subject to learn a few more unrelated facts in the next period of the timetable. I could never finish my homework. I would easily get obsessed by one scientific subject or an electronics or diy project. I find static "glass case" displays to be uninteresting. To be attractive there should be a strong element of interaction where the visitor can chose to explore the depth of the subject to his or her required level.

@Choirboy Not just me then, never seen or even attempted to watch an episode of Coronation Street. Not just Coronation Street, but any soap opera, I give them all an extremely wide berth. But I did, and still would, watch Fred Dibnah, and today's equivalent, Guy Martin.