The latest English Culture article is about St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. He is remembered on 29 December � the day he was murdered by four of King Henry II�s men in Canterbury Cathedral.
Murder In The Cathedral
Hi Asha,
The title of your article caught my eye -- it was interesting, especially since the murder was committed in a House of God! What a terrible "misunderstanding."
Strangely enough, December 29, 1916 is also the date that Rasputin was murdered.
Peace.
Anna I had no idea - how interesting that two church men, centuries apart and in different parts of the world, should be murdered on the same day...
They say there is no such thing as coincidence!
And Rasputin, I guess we're still figuring out if he was a saint or a sinner...or somehwere in between?!
Thomas Becket was given the title of saint... Yet my understanding is that his halo grew brighter after his death.
Rasputin I know less about - have you done an article on him? If so please let me have the link, if not it would be great to know more about him.
Hi Asha,
I'm working on a few articles on Rasputin: the more I research, the more interesting his tale becomes.
At the present time, I've done an introduction in a piece about Siberia, his birthplace.
Here is the link:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art57273.aspThanks for asking.
Anna what a beautiful, evocative article - your writing is poetic and has a strong sense of place - it was as if I could see the landscape you were describing. I'd love to learn more about Rasputin and look forward to your articles about him.
A fascinating article Asha. Thomas Becket was much maligned, remember being very sad about his life when learnt about him in our history classes. He tried hard to 'do good' and was murdered for his trouble, a tragic waste even though I suppose it was not such an unusual occurrence in those days.
Have heard pupils don't learn much in the way of history in British schools, their own or that of any country, do you happen to know if this is true? If so then it is a shame, we can all learn and profit so much from knowing about the past, positive and negative don't you think?
Francine growing up with a mother who was an English teacher I remember Murder In The Cathedral on the bookshelves from when I was young. Because I asked about the book it also meant I knew Thomas Becket's story. We also had The Canterbury Tales on the bookshelves, so I learned about the link with them to Thomas Becket's tomb.
Your question about history taught in British schools prompted me to look up the National Curriculum. You might find this link interesting (people would normally be doing Key Stage 3 around the age of 14).
Key Stage 3 History - Range and Content
Yes the curriculum really looks very impressive Asha, but from what I understand in many, some say in the majority, of the State schools it is not kept to. History in any depth is not taught very often, and it is also not regulated in as much as checking to see if it is being taught correctly.
A bit like languages, they also are not considered a necessary subject at the moment because of course English is a world language. Fact is one learns a lot about a people from even knowing a few words of their language.
English history is fascinating as is the history of the world, if the National Curriculum as it stands was followed throughout the school system that would certainly be an enormous step forward.
I have to say when I found it I thought the National Curriculum was impressive too! And recognised that what it says on the tin is not what comes out of the box...
I find it interesting to see how much I am enjoying researching history as an adult, often reremembering things I learned at school. For me one of the keys was good historical fiction - it helped bring history alive, and encouraged me to explore the eras of books I read.