“Nothing is
pointless if it helps
people to learn”
Historian, presenter and author
LucyWorsley
thinks there is
more than one way to awaken children’s interest in reading...
T
he first book I read was called
Naughty Amelia Jane Again
,
by Enid Blyton. Amelia Jane
herself was a doll who bullied
the other toys in a nursery,
and I don’t think that anyone today would
give their children books to read in which the
characters include a naughty golliwog. In fact,
I’m not sure my parents particularly approved
of this book even then. I picked it up during
a family visit to a bookshop when we were
staying at my granny’s, and as no one knew
that I knew how to read, no one noticed that
I was reading it until I had finished. Then, I
believe, my parents paid for it because they felt
a bit bad that I’d consumed it for nothing.
When I was a bit older I began to read Jean
Plaidy’s stories for children, and I especially
loved
The Young Elizabeth
and
The Young
Mary Queen of Scots
; both books I wish I’d
written. As well as being very entertaining,
they were a painless way of absorbing Tudor
history, and I can recite the names of Mary
Queen of Scots’s servants, the Four Marys,
for example, to this day – or describe the
opening scene of
The Young Elizabeth
, which
takes place at Hampton Court and features
the christening of the Princess Elizabeth’s
baby brother, Edward, in 1536. I know now,
although I didn’t realise it then, that Jean
Plaidy was basing her stories on real
historical documents, and that many of her
details are true.
My 1973 copy of
The Young Elizabeth
has a
picture of Hampton Court Palace on its cover.
And it’s certainly one of the reasons, when I
grew up, that I wanted to work so much as a
curator at Hampton Court Palace, a job that
I’ve done for the last ten years.
myself a limit of only two hours a day.
My mum, though, has had a career in teaching
literacy, so I know from her that sometimes
you need games, or props, or more active
ways of getting people to enjoy read. My
sister-in-law is an editor of books for little
boys, a tough market to crack. My brother
and my stepfather have both featured in titles
that she has edited, about skateboarding and
astronomy respectively.
So, working hard to get people to enjoy
reading is a mind-set that has stuck with me
as a curator. Even when you’re designing an
exhibition, you’ve got to think what families, or
that bored person who’s been dragged along by
their partner, might get out of it. It annoys me
if people use the expression ‘dumbing down’
when they look at the efforts museum curators
or television programmes might make to draw
people in. It’s an expression that really means:
‘I’m too clever to need your efforts, therefore
they’re pointless’. But nothing is pointless if it
helps people to learn.
In fact, eighteen months ago I actually got
to take part in the re-staging of Edward VI’s
christening procession in the rooms where
it really happened at Hampton Court. This
involved persuading 100 of my colleagues who
work at the palace to dress up (the men in
tights!) in order to recreate this magnificent
Tudor court ceremony for a television
programme on BBC Two that I co-presented
with David Starkey.
Those historical novels of my childhood
have always remained so vivid to me that I
wanted to have my own go at enticing a new
generation of kids into the past. That was
my motivation for writing
Eliza Rose
. In my
version of the Tudor court, we visit the reign
of Henry VIII, and find out in particular what
happened to his fifth, teenage, wife, Katherine
Howard. In fact, I propose a new reason for
why she had her head cut off.
If even one of my readers decides, as a
result, that she too wants to become a curator
at Hampton Court Palace in a future life, I’ll
be utterly delighted. My goal in all my work
as a historian or as the presenter of history
documentaries is to be the thin end of the
wedge; to entice just a few people over the
threshold of getting interested in history.
I know that this softly-softly approach of
mine does actually work, too, because one
of the great pleasures of my life is getting
the occasional letter from someone who tells
me that they started out being completely
uninterested in history, but then watched a
documentary, read a book, attended a course,
and ended up getting a history degree from
somewhere like the Open University!
When I was little, I actually worried that I
spent too much time reading, and tried to set
MY LIFE IN BOOKS
Lucy Worsley
74
TEACH READING & WRITING
HistoricRoyal Palaces is an
independent charity that looks
after the Tower of London, Hampton
Court Palace, theBanquetingHouse,
KensingtonPalace, KewPalace and
HillsboroughCastle. It helps everyone
explore the story of howmonarchs and
people have shaped society, in some
of the greatest palaces ever built. It
raises all its own funds anddepends on
the support of our visitors, members,
donors, sponsors and volunteers.
