"I could have hugged Stephen Fry!"

This e-mail has just arrived from a Classics teacher, and is worth sharing:

I went on Saturday (May 28th) to hear Stephen Fry at the Hay-on-Wye Festival (it's not very far for me). He spoke about two films – 'Dr. Strangelove' and 'The Importance of being Earnest.' There were about 1000 people in the [...]

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A Natural History of Latin – review

Did I miss this one when it came out in November 2004? It looks good, judging by the extracts on Amazon

This is the blurb:
No known language, including English, has achieved the success and longevity of Latin. French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian are among its direct descendants, and countless Latin words and phrases comprise the cornerstone [...]

A new blog to watch? And a trailer.

A blog on the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean has just begun (first post on 28th May) and is already deep in child sacrifice. Thanks to David Meadows and Explorator for this news.
Visit the blog here.
While on the subject of ancient religion, the answer to the question pupils occasionally ask, “Do people still worship Greek [...]

Ancient Roman food – and winemaking – recreated

Thanks to Explorator I've been looking at these really interesting pages on Roman food, and winemaking in amphorae. They could be an addition to lessons on Cambridge Latin Course Book 1.
The wine first: The New York Times (you have to register, free) has a piece on an Italian winemaker who has gone back to [...]

A little knowledge ….

Here's a gentleman writing in The Scotsman:

Word of the week
GEORGE KEREVAN
referendum: Noun. 1: The submission of a proposed public measure or actual statute to a direct popular vote. 2: Such a vote. (Etymology: from the Latin, neuter gerundive of referre, to refer.) – American Heritage Dictionary. ….
Referendum first pops up in English circa 1847, chiefly [...]

U2 wow them with Latin

Al Gore was among the audience, apparently, for a U2 gig in Boston. Here's the article.
And an extract:

U2 may have played a near replica of Tuesday's show, but fans didn't come to be surprised by classic and rare nuggets. They came to be lifted, to be overwhelmed by the power of rock 'n' roll, and [...]

Review of Mr McKie's audio diary

The Church Times radio reviewer had this to say of the programme that I trailed recently, but was not myself able to hear – we have a festival on, and life is very busy.

IN how many British schools might you hear “Good King Wenceslas” sung in Ancient Greek? After Thursday evening of last week's Its [...]

About time too

Kathimerini again, this time with the welcome news that Greek museums and major sites will stay open until 7.30 p.m. this summer, instead of closing at 2 as many do.

The country’s museums and main archaeological sites will remain open longer this summer as part of a campaign to boost Greece’s tourism sector in the wake [...]

Two reviews of Hecuba

The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post have reviews of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hecuba in the Kennedy Center.
Sample from the Sun:

Redgrave plays her as a woman more imprisoned by sorrow than by slavery, a woman so numbed by anguish, she's almost shell-shocked. Though there's still a hint of regal bearing in her figure, for [...]