Mulri-storey car park versus Roman wall – who wins?

As it's Germany, the Roman wall wins. This tourist newspaper story came my way when I was in Bingen.

Roman fort wall is new park feature

Important Boppard finds from Roman times feature in a new archaeological park in the town.

Dominating the site and the top of Kirchgasse is a massive fortress curtain wall, some 60 metres long and eight metres high.

The wall linked two towers of a huge Roman fort that once stood at the side of the Rhine.

Astonishing experts by its excellent preservation, the wall came to light when workmen began digging for a multi-storey car park – a project soon abandoned.

Apart from similar remains in the UK, the finds were judged to include the best section of a Roman wall of this period uncovered anywhere north of the Alps.

Other items found included 12 graves made from stone tiles. Cloth fragments indicated that the graves were of Christians buried in the 7th or 8th centuries.

Also uncovered was the cellar of a fortress-house, with wall apertures for archers, from the 12th and 13th centuries, and the remains of a horse-mill.

Latin GCSE at 80

Look what the Romans have done for her

From News Shopper

PROBABLY the Bexley borough's oldest GCSE achiever was Mollie Hills. Aged 80, she lives in Welling and has just achieved a C grade in GCSE Latin.

Mrs Hills told News Shopper she had decided to take the subject because she has always been interested in the Romans.

Orginally from Greenwich, she studied Latin at school for a couple of years. But her education was disrupted by the Second World War and she has always felt she missed out.

So she took up the subject in an adult education class at Brampton Road adult education centre in Bexleyheath, taken by tutor Clive Madel who teaches at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School in Sidcup.

She said: “I didn't think I would pass the exam because I only just passed the mock.”

In fact, everyone in the class passed, including fellow student Peter King from Bexleyheath, who is a mere 74.

Mrs Hills is now planning to take up the AS level Latin course but she says she probably won't take the exam this time.

She explained: “My daughter says she will disinherit me if I do. She says she cannot stand the strain.”

Numbers taking Classical GCSEs and A levels are up on last year

According to the Times, 16,305 UK cendidates took Classical subjects at GCSE this year. Last year there were 15,685.

The Times listing does not list Latin, Greek and Classical Civ separately.

At A level there were 6186 cendidates this year, up on last year's 5967.

Compare numbers taking French GCSE: 2006 – 236,189 (2005 – 272,140)
and Spanish GCSE: 2006 – 62,143