History in Schools: A Tsar is Born

It has got to be any historian’s dream: to be dubbed ‘the history tsar’ in the press and be asked to help draw up the history curriculum for schools in England. Who could begrudge Niall Ferguson a sense of triumph after Michael Gove, the new education secretary, publicly invited him to take on the task following a talk given by Ferguson at this year’s Hay Festival? Of course some did just that and voiced dismay that the historian who had done more than anyone to revive public interest – some would say pride – in Britain’s imperial past should have any say in deciding the future shape of history for the young.