History brought alive

By Steve Cunningham

ARE you a student of history or a participant Put it another way, do you love trudging around dusty old exhibits at your municipal museum Or, do you want to get that suit of armour on and wave a few spears

Expert opinion is divided. Some say you must study the past seriously and consider all the issues - but that works only if you're academic enough. If you're not, you'll get bored quickly as you turn over the tattered pages or look at yet another Latin phrase.

Get dressed up as a Roundhead, Cavalier, caveman or queen and you'll really get into the role and learn a lot more. But will it be an accurate and balanced view - or just a tabloid version of history

Take, for example, Michael Hymers. He has turned the dining room of his house near Leeds into a microcosm of the 1940s. He spends his evenings among gas masks and flying ducks, playing his 78rpm records. He and his family are taking part in The 1940s House, a programme to be screened on Channel 4 from 2nd January.

This follows the successful and controversial 1900s House series, in which the Bowler family spent three months living a Victorian life.

For the 1940s series, Michael, 52, shaved off his beard and trimmed his hair. His wife Lyn, 50, was not too excited, or flattered, by the tight blue suit, or the Dinky Clips in her hair. And there were further hardships in the house especially equipped for them in south London: no television, telephone, washing machine or freezer.

Michael had to dig an air-raid shelter in the garden, while the rest of the family stuck anti-blast tape over the windows. Sandwiches often contained only lettuce from the garden; baths were only 5in deep; and the toilet paper was unforgiving.

Rationing was enforced and the couple's grandchildren were constantly hungry. Then there was the bombing: producers used sound effects that woke the family through the night. By the time they reached the 1944 segment - when the dreaded Doodlebug rockets fell - the Hymers family were sleeping through the lot.

So, did they learn from living history Undoubtedly!
Lyn now washes her hair less often and has discarded expensive skin creams. 'In the 1940s, I only had cold cream; my skin and hair have never been better!,' she says.

But would you fancy living out the past

Here are a few ideas:

• Blists Hill Museum, which stands above the magnificent Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, allows you to walk down gas-lit cobbled, car-free streets, where the women wear long skirts, the men wear hats and children play with hoops and marbles on the pavements. The beautiful town of Ironbridge, with its many superbly preserved buildings, could be classed as a living museum with little regard for modern-day society, although it's near the new town of Telford.
• The North-East Killhope Lead-mining Centre, Cowshill, Co Durham. This well-preserved Victorian lead-mining museum has a giant water mill and woodland trail. Visitors can try their hand at separating lead ore on the washing floor.
• The North of England Open Air Museum, Beamish, Co Durham. Costumed guides show visitors around the living museum, furnished as it was in 1913. Go down a mine, visit the chapel and school, and walk around the farm.
• The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent. Step back 200 years to see 18th-century industry in a Georgian dockyard.
• Warwick Castle has a splendid trail through 1,000 years of history, from Anglo-Saxon times through the Earl of Warwick's dangerous exploits until a royal house party with the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) as guest. Watch out - some of the characters really do come to life!

• The Blitz experience at the Imperial War Museum in London. Visitors are 'locked' into a public shelter during an air-raid. Not only can you hear the Nazi bombs, you can also feel the blasts.

• The National Tram Museum at Crich, Derbyshire, is another must. Visitors are issued with old money, can ride the rails all day, and view the authentic streets and shops.

• Ripley Castle, Yorkshire, has none of the usual off-putting ropes and notices of a stately home. There, staff actively encourage you to sit on the chairs and, even more impressively for young visitors, to try on the civil war armour. There's no finer way of passing on the intricacies of this era in British history than to feel the weight of a roundhead's helmet and breastplate.