Boris breathes life into Latin

8:55am Saturday 9th December 2006

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MP Boris Johnson was cheered to the rafters when he held forth in an ancient language at an Oxford school.

The MP for Henley may be a stranger at times to political correctness but he was certainly at home yesterday as he came to praise the virtues of his beloved Latin to pupils at Cheney School in Headington.

He showed that he has not forgotten his "amo, amas, amat," and in turn challenged pupils to chant their Latin verbs as he did in the old days.

There are about 70 students of Latin and Greek at the school and they heard Mr Johnson defend the relevance of Classical learning. They also questioned him about how useful he has found his Classics degree.

Mr Johnson said: "It not only opens your eyes to the treasures of ancient literature, but you also learn an intellectual discipline you never lose.

"The great thing about it is that it is not vocational. There is no particular career that you are being channelled into."

Ben Heron, 12, who is considering studying Latin at a higher level, said: "I find it really interesting that people don't use it any more. He was very funny - it was good. The best Latin word is 'salve', which means 'hello'."

The talk ended with claps and cheers from the audience, which included all ages.

Almond Widgery, 12, was convinced by Mr Johnson's arguments about the continuing importance of the Classics.

She said: "Latin is good for learning about historical matters such as the Romans and because it helps when you are learning other languages."

This year, there is a sixth form Latin group at Cheney school, which has become a local Classics centre, enabling pupils from other schools to sit their A-Level there.

Classics teacher Julian Armistead said: "The talk reminded us about the importance of the Classics. It is a clich that Latin is the root of our language, but a true one."