You're listening to a London Review of Books podcast.

The Wonderfulness of Us is a conversation that took place at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2011

between Linda Colley, Tom Devine, R.W. Johnson and Andrew O'Hagan.

The event was organised as a response to a piece by Richard J. Evans,

published in the L.R.B. earlier that year, about national histories

and the ways they should and should not be taught.

In November last year, during parliamentary questions, there was the following exchange between

Philip Davis, the Conservative MP for Shipley and Michael Gove.

Davis, I welcome the Secretary of State's commitment to the teaching of British history,

and I hope it will be done in a way that allows us to be proud of our country

rather than always apologising for our history.

Does he agree that that can be done only if history is taught as a single subject?

In many schools it has been merged with other subjects such as geography.

What can you do to ensure that history is taught as a single subject so that people can learn properly about British history?

And Gove responds.

My honourable friend makes a good point.

The changes we are making to the national curriculum and to accountability through the English baccalaureate

will ensure that history is taught as a proper subject so that we can celebrate the distinguished role of these islands

in the history of the world.

From the role of the Royal Navy in putting down the slave trade

to the way in which since 1688,

this nation has been a beacon for liberty

...