by David West | Oct 31, 2026 | News
The word chancellor has a surprisingly humble origin. Today, it conjures up images of powerful politicians, senior judges and university dignitaries. Yet its ancestry can be traced to a Latin word meaning a lattice, grating or barrier. The Latin cancelli referred to...
by David West | Oct 30, 2026 | News
The word curfew has a fascinating history stretching back nearly a thousand years, to medieval Europe. Today, we associate it with restrictions on movement, particularly during wartime, civil unrest or the disciplining of children. Originally, however, it had a much...
by David West | Oct 29, 2026 | News
In an earlier post about education I mentioned how an ability for maths and sciences, physics in particular, helped me achieve an exhibition to Oxford. Physics is actually quite an interesting word. The word physics has a history stretching back more than two thousand...
by David West | Oct 28, 2026 | News
Since I mentioned Strictly Come Dancing yesterday, let’s make strict today’s word of the day. But before I do that, I have just realised that tracing the roots of words to Latin and other languages is exactly the teaching device that Sir Anthony Standen is using in...
by David West | Oct 27, 2026 | News
We were supposed to be going on holiday to Sicily last month, but an eruption of Mount Etna closed the airport and scuppered our holiday. I had been trying to learn Italian using Babbel (other apps are available), and I am continuing to do so. In my lesson today...
