Categories: humour, really, tv, bbc, sci-fi
Date: 02 June 2010 17:36:00
There was much sniggering yesterday as Mr M and I continued to catch up on old Doctor Whos. ( For old, read David Tennant). Last night’s viewing was the 'Fires of Pompeii' episode. Careful research later - ok, Google – revealed that we’re not the only ones to spot the striking similarity between the Roman family featured therein and the one that inspired (well, some of the time) countless Latin O Level students back in days of yore. Yes, it’s the good old Cambridge School Classics Project all over again: Caecilius, wife Metella, good- for- nothing son Quintus, and, a new addition for Dr Who, Evelina, a would-be soothsayer. Mercifully, their dog, Cerberus, was conspicuous by his absence; if I remember rightly, his constant nipping of unwary passers -by was about the most exciting thing that happened in Pompeii. Unless you count Metella’s regular shopping trips to the marketplace. You never know, if only Russell Davis and Co had been in on the O Level syllabus, maybe I’d have managed more than a grade C!
In contrast, our Galifrean time lord’s version had some twists and turns which I certainly can’t remember way back in 1975. Back then, the coolest thing about the course was the packaging: neon coloured leaflets in a snazzy little plastic folder. By the time our daughter tackled her GCSE, (by which time Latin was an ‘extra’ and charged accordingly), this had reverted to a boring old textbook – in appearance, at least, more along the lines of the dreaded 'Kennedy's Eating Primer' which I endured at a previous school, typical text – “The sailors are sailing to the island to attack the farmers with spears and arrows.” “ The Doctor and his companion are flying through space and time to alter the course of history with a sonic screwdriver.” How does that sound?