ABSTRACT
In the summer o f 1983, in the national press at first and later in the historical and educational journals, voices were raised about the teaching o f history in the schools. Initially the debate centred on matters o f patriotism, o f national identity and national pride. The first salvo was - probably quite unwittingly - fired by Lord Thomas who, interviewed in a June number o f the Observer and asked what were his hopes o f the next half-century o f Thatcherism, produced six o f them, one o f which was for ‘educational reform which ensures that everyone at school is given a real sense o f the history o f our nation at least as good as French children learn about their country’ .1
