10 out of 10 for Michael Gove and his history plans

To listen to some of his critics, you would think he was going back to the Dark Ages with his reform plans.

But when you weigh up the evidence, it would seem that is just where these people have been themselves.

For the basic historical knowledge of many people today is shameful.

To back up this claim, Mr Pendle advises readers to watch a quiz programme on television of an evening and see what happens when a history question is put to someone taking part.

Ask them to name the dates of a battle, when a king or queen reigned or when a Prime Minister was in office and it can almost certainly be guaranteed they will reply with an answer that shows their lack of knowledge of the subject.

Now some might argue this is not important.

But Mr Pendle would beg to differ.

When he was at school, he learned when Britain won or lost the decisive battles of eras in the country’s past, he was taught the dates of the Plantagenet, Tudors, Stuart and Hanoverian monarchs.

In adult life, he has taken an interest in politics and knows the names of most Prime Ministers past and their years of office.

It is not something he is proud of – he just assumed it was standard practice in history teaching.

It appears he was wrong – so if Mr Gove is planning a return to the old days, he gets 10 out of 10 from Mr Pendle.