old perseans
Historically curious History has always
my other subjects, although I
been popular at The
really enjoyed English, especially
Perse, with many of our
I preferred history, even though
alumni pursuing the
John Tanfield, the sixth-form
subject at university
much he disliked teaching it. If he
and beyond. We hear
aimed to put us off, he failed. A
from four OPs who are
group read history at Cambridge.
with the brilliant Douglas Brown,
teacher, told us repeatedly how
significant proportion of my year Tanfield focused mainly on
spending their careers finding out what the Romans (and Egyptians, Stuarts and Europeans) have ever done for us…
early modern England and Europe
John Miller (1965)
and by the time I arrived at Jesus College this was my main area of
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at The Perse, from the Prep to the Upper Sixth. I “chose” my A levels largely by default. I felt I had reached my ceiling in maths, my physics was lamentably weak and my having studied only French ruled out modern languages. Of 6
interest. Interpretations of the Civil War and Republic were in a state of flux. The Marxist-influenced preoccupation with economic and social change was questioned by younger historians who placed greater emphasis on politics and religion. Post-Civil War society was
