The secret to teaching history is to empower students with a passion for the subject.

Having gone to a comprehensive school in an area of considerable social depravation I can speak for talented teachers who were specially selected for their ability to maintain control and to enthuse their students...

This summer my daughter, Sophie, will graduate from Durham University.

A few days ago 19-year-old Ryan Zon, a winger for Swallownest Miners Welfare Reserves was resuscitated following a heart attack. He was brought back to life by chance for his opponents were a team of doctors.

Three years ago...

Well I could write about empty nest syndrome - the aching void that's felt when the last of the ebullient personalities has left the family home.

When the longing to hear them, feel them, speak to them bores such a hole in your heart you wonder whether you will...

Whether it was ever Lady Godiva or Elizabeth I who rode "a cock horse to Banbury Cross" we might never know but it's fairly safe to assume that the grand lady who wore "rings on her fingers and bells on her toes" might have, had she been around today, shopped...

It's often a simple case of not getting to the buzzer quickly enough. But that didn't explain a recent shocking revelation on University Challenge.

"Imagine knowing who Chomsky is but not who Kate Bush is," tweeted Revd Richard Coles during a recent edition.

Richard Coles - cleric, broadcaster and...

At last great news for libraries!

And it's the children who are putting their giant stamp of authority on the matter.

Not only are there six writers of children's books amongst the top ten most borrowed authors of 2011/12 but children's fictions titles were borrowed a staggering 81.8 million times...

In that great grand slam of life you could say I've achieved something Andy Murray hasn't.

It wasn't a particularly vicious assault, but last week I accidently, and forcefully, whacked my cheekbone with my own tennis racquet and, as a consequence, turned my blue eye black.

Caroline's last hours in the hospice were peaceful for her but they were painful for us.

When the phone call finally came to tell us that she'd died, despite the inevitability, the emotion was overwhelming.

Caroline had lived for breast cancer for seven years and died one beautiful...

Caroline's last hours in the hospice were peaceful for her but they were painful for us.

When the phone call finally came to tell us that she'd died, despite the inevitability, the emotion was overwhelming.

Caroline had lived for breast cancer for seven years and died one beautiful...

Whitney Houston said that fame "made you a personality instead of a person." Amy Winehouse's sudden rise to fame plunged the singer into a fatal cycle of substance abuse. Most recently Ollie Murs admitted he battled with drink and depression after the pressures of fame became too much.

As...

As if life isn't tough enough for many writers.

The jury may still be out on the future of ebooks v tree books and the world of publishing is facing its biggest challenges ever but the government has now waded in on whether to transfer the administration of the...

Artist Jeremy Deller may have revealed more about Stonehenge than he realised when he described his inflatable replica "Sacrilege" as a representation of "Britain's history, culture and sense of humour." He said his unique take on a bouncy castle was "a way for everyone to learn about these places in...

The popular notion that charity begins at home was succinctly interpreted on a wider level by Bob Geldof when he said "we need to write the cheque... we need a trade deal ... they need to buy our stuff and we need to buy theirs." Yet while it's generally accepted...

Prince Harry may be watching the Olympic beach volleyballers compete at Horse Guards Parade but chasing balls on sandy beaches is not unusual for AngloAmerican Sofia Luxton - who plays competitive beach rugby in Portugal - the country where she grew up. And in a few weeks she will complete...

Shakespeare once said "the education of circumstance is superior to that of tuition" and so when I am asked, as if often the case, about the perception and relevance of media studies compared with traditional subjects, I remain ambivalent.

I have worked with students and interns from across the...

I could wax lyrical about the inner book and all that but hardly a day goes by when someone tells me how much they would like to write a book. Well, in many respects, it's never been easier to publish your own.

For over 15 years I have been...

No doubt the impact of the digital revolution will be recorded in the history books - well e-readers - in much the same way as the agricultural and industrial revolutions did before us.

So while some of the latest suggestions from the Department of Education which seem to be...

There is no doubt that rhythm and rhyme are valuable tools in terms of developing vocabulary. Michael Gove has just announced that, from Year 1, five-year-old children will be read poems by their teacher as well as 'starting to learn simple poems by heart and practise recitals'. For Year 2...

It may have been the typhoid fever but it took Leo Tolstoy six years to write that book. Six years of Russian sweat and tears and about six years for many of us to read it. Now word is out that all that hard work has become a victim of...

It's enough to spur excitement into Heathcliffe's restless spirit.

Whether Emily Bronte's secret hoard of poems - almost two hundred of them --would ever have seen the worldwide light of day had it not been for the vision of her sister, Charlotte, is doubtful. In memoriam, Charlotte released the genius...