We are not alone – an American radio dramatisation of Odyssey

The bank holiday dramatisation of the Odyssey was not unique, apparently. In 1981 American public radio presented an eight and a half hour version, and it has now (2004) been issued, probably on CD, but certainly for download from Audible.com. (not free like the BBC's Listen on Demand)

Details and free audio sample here.
The [...]

Take (desktop) cover – Alexander is coming!

Oliver Stone's film is to be released in the USA on November 5th, when we in the UK will be intent on fireworks of another kind. The trailer can be found here, and doesn't inspire me – it looks just like the trailer for any other epic, with horsemen riding through dustclouds, the [...]

Latin as a force in history

One Sunday treat of mine is receiving 'Explorator' by e-mail. I set aside a few minutes (which often extend to half an hour or more) to browse the list of links with helpful summaries, follow up those that look interesting to a Classicist, and perhaps recommend the best here on through the ARLT monthly Newsletter. [...]

Has Charles Clarke had a Classical conversion experience?

The Observer had this today, 29th August:

Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, has called for traditional school standards to be protected through a renewed focus on grammar, spelling and algebra.
'We do need to be eternally vigilant that, at all levels, standards are constantly maintained or raised, and that extends to “traditional” standards, such as grammar, spelling [...]

Odysseus made a strong finish

The much-heralded BBC Radio 4 version of the Odyssey had me in its grip this afternoon, the third and last episode. From Odysseus' landing on Ithaca to his long, long night in bed with Penelope the adaptation didn't put a foot wrong, emotionally.
Naturally there were omissions. We met only one outdoor servant, Eumaeus, and no [...]

Well at least AQA has given some Latin joy this year.

South Warwickshire Article

From IC Coventry.
A-mazing twins get top grades

Aug 27 2004
IT WAS a double GCSE celebration for identical twins from Warwickshire who clocked up a staggering 22 A* grades between them.
Delighted Peter and Edward Jackson, 16, studied exactly the same 12 subjects at Kenilworth School, and although the twins may be very similar in [...]

American favourite Latin course gets a new look.

A remarkably silly article from an American newspaper complained that the publishers of Wheelock's Latin Course have updated it. Apparently this course, which seems to be the preferred book in American schools, has cast off the forbidding, crowded, pictureless look of the Third Edition which I possess, and now looks a bit more like [...]

An Odyssey to catch

The pictures are better on radio.
The eminent Classicist Mary Beard has just been on Radio 4 telling us about this weekend's 3-part version of The Odyssey.

First of all she was enthusiastic about how the adaptation by poet Simon Armitage trusts Homer in the order that events are told – he sticks to Homer's structure [...]

Alas, Quite Adamant

So the Academic Quality Axe has fallen. This is from today's Times:
The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) examination board, which has decided to withdraw Greek and Latin from 2006, has rejected a last-minute appeal from Stephen Twigg, the Schools Minister. Courses which begin next month will be the last to be examined by the board.
Mr [...]

What price the super-essay?

From The Times, 19th August:
STUDENTS will have to produce a lengthy dissertation in addition to their A levels under plans to break the logjam of applicants to top universities, The Times has learnt.
The work would be given a separate grade and made available to admissions tutors online to help them to distinguish the most able [...]