Beckham's Foot and a Classical Education

I was sitting on the bus last week, idling away the 15 minute journey when I tuned into two lads of about 17 years discussing the latest travails of David Beckham.



'Well it was 'is Achilles wernit', opined one track suited youth.


'Gonna be an 'erculean task to get to the world cup now, innit mate', replied the equally sports geared sidekick.


The conversation went on to discuss football in general at which point I lost interest and latched on to another conversation in front of me between two ladies in their 50s discussing a trip both had apparently been part of in the summer.


'I loved that fort we went to', stated twin set.


'Which one?', enquired pearls.


'The one with the tablets,' said twin set, 'the letters home to their families'.


'Oh Vindolanda, yes that was a marvellous day, so interesting', said pearls.


'The vomitaririum gave us a giggle though', chuckled twin set.



What struck me was that within the time it took to complete a short bus trip, I had overheard two conversations laden with classical references. This set me thinking about how prevalent references to the Greek and Roman worlds are in our daily lives. Footballers have heels like Achilles, Cupid's bow is known to strike the odd lover or two, Mickey Mouse has a dog called Pluto and, though I've never actually heard anyone outside of an old Sherlock Holmes film say this, 'By Jove' is a polite way of swearing.



Most of us are aware of the plethora of Greek and Roman gods whose names adorn all the other rocks which swirl about the Sun alongside the Earth. The scourge of right wing Tories, UKIP and English Democrat nutters is an organisation named after a continent named after a Greek goddess, Europa. The 2nd string European football competition is similarly named, (Aston Villa 2, Tractor Builders of Kiev nil) and we even have a chocolate bar named after the Roman god of war.


Yet, I sit here with more letters after my name than are actually in my name and at no point in my compulsory schooling did I or my cohort (Roman reference there) get the opportunity to study the classics. Despite the amount of Latin and ancient Greek words and grammar in the English language and despite all the Greek and Roman names and references which surround our daily lives the study of Latin and/or Greek seems to have been back then and still now not available in Comprehensive schools. Why is this?


Why is the study of the classics, over and above a few references to Aesop's Fables, warnings not to 'fly to close to the Sun' and primary school Roman Day the preserve of grammar and private schools?


Why is it that despite the Roman and Greek contributions to Maths, Religion, Philosophy, Science, Sport, Drama, Literature, Music and construction did I gain more classical knowledge from watching 'Jason and the Argonauts' than I ever did from a dedicated course of study at O Level or at any other time at school.


Actually, I'm being a touch disingenuous here as Mr Iversen, my teacher in my final year of primary, opened the eyes of my whole class to the classical world with his holiday photos from Pompeii, Troy and Ephesus and his off curriculum study of mythology. However, I always had the feeling that this fascinating journey into Mr Iversen's grand tour was a guerrilla activity on his part.


Now, I will readily admit that I will always see the world through Marxist eyes and with that rider I will offer the following opinion. I would suggest that the powers that be in education in the seventies and eighties were no different from the mainly bourgoise who run it now; either they assumed we were not clever enough or they didn't want us to be that educated. After all, who needs a plumber that can quote Ovid or a mechanic enamoured with The Aenid.


However, the tide is turning. Marvel comics and films such as the X-Men, the Percy Jackson books, Terry Deary's Horrible Histories and the sword and sandal epics such as Gladiator and Troy are opening up the minds of the children of the great unwashed to the classical world. Add to this the possibility of a few more Mr Iversen's in the system and then maybe one day the idea that kids in Comps. can't handle Latin & Greek and the study of classical civilisations will be an idea that becomes mortus quod seputus*.





By the way, and this has absolutely no relevance to the subject of this blog, the two lads in track suits both offered their seats to an old couple who got on the bus part way through the journey and both thanked the driver when they alighted outside the local college. I would suggest that there went two children of the masses that would welcome more than panis quod ambitus*.


* apologies for any mistakes in the Latin here, I was doing metalwork that day.