Historians have often unfairly downplayed the roles played by women in the ancient world by selectively focusing on male figures in their accounts.

“at some point when you start to say well maybe women did play more of a role but they just haven't been recorded in the sources in the way that maybe they deserve to be”

He contends that the meritocracy in Britain has faded since his youth when grammar schools provided extensive opportunities for working-class children.

“I grew up in an era when meritocracy was at its maximum in this country I mean we had 20% of kids going to grammar schools and therefore of a large number of workingclass kids going to grammar schools and getting into University”