SIR – There has been discussion today about teaching history in schools (whether it should be chronological or not).
So,I’m sure that history teachers will have been as horrified as I was with James Connell’s version of English history in his Fair Point column (Worcester News, February 28).
When Ifirst started to read it,I thought that it was a spoof but, as I read on,I realised that James was serious.
James (old French, based on Greek) and Connell (completely Irish) are hardly English names.
Indeed, if James was to look at where the Angles and their fellow incomers, the Saxons, came from, he’d not be surprised why the indigenous Britons got a little tetchy about their boorish behaviour.
James then bangs on about that other Norseman (even the French disowned him), William, who arrived uninvited in 1066.
He then proceeded to carry out one of the major acts of genocide in our country by exterminating those in the north, who he thought were a threat. And,I wonder if James really knows that the Carolus II statue at the Guildhall front door was the King of Scotland (not yet England) when he fought his battle at Worcester in 1651.
Does James know about the tens of thousands of Scots who fought and died here too see the stone at Powick Bridge).
As to the Six Nations (James conveniently doesn’t mention the Welsh) – a quick check of the stats will reveal that, far from “smashing” the others, England has had theiir fair share of defeats from the celtic nations and France.
James should check his basic facts about British history. This county was at the centre of many historical events and he owes us a duty to report fairly.
GERRY TAGGART
Powick
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