Peddling the Past with Adam Hart-Davis

History was one of the few subjects that I really disliked at school. I don't know whether this was because I had poor teachers or whether all the kings, queens and dates we had to learn were inherently tedious, but I remember a memorable report when I was about eleven; in the history exam I had achieved just 3 per cent. I promised my parents I would try harder next time, and in the next history exam I managed 63 per cent, but I failed to sustain the effort, and in due course I also failed O-level history. I still recall the laconic postcard from my housemaster: `You pass everything except history.'