800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta in 2015; British Values; King's School, Bruton copy of the Magna Carta sold to the Australian Government; Kazantzakis on British values.

1297 Magna Carta Text and Translation

Australia's Magna Carta Committee

The King's School, Bruton Magna Carta on its way to Australia, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 1 November,1952

""The Charter is reported to be clearly legible and in fine condition except for two small holes, effecting four or five words, and three stains".

The UK's Magna Carta Committee

"Promoting British Values" (ITV)

"The Prime Minister David Cameron said every child in the UK should be taught about the charter as part of a drive to promote British values".

Churchill's plan to give Magna Carta to USA

The Independent

"Mr Cameron said he wanted to use the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, a year from today, as an opportunity for every child to learn about 'the foundation of all our laws and principles' ".

The Prime Minister, Mail on Sunday

"I want to use this upcoming 800th anniversary as an opportunity for every child to learn about the Magna Carta, for towns to commemorate it, for events to celebrate it".

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In 1952 (the year I entered King's School Bruton Junior School), the priceless 1297 inspeximus Magna Carta illustrated above was sold to the Australian Government by King's School Bruton, Somerset, for the sum of £12,500 . It was discovered by Tom Tremlett, a historical scholar, who "kept it in a box under his bed" for many months ("King''s School, Bruton Rembered", edited by Basil Wright, Castle Cary Press, p. 89).

"As Head of History he was the self-appointed custodian during the Second World War of the School's priceless copy of the Magna Carta. He was reputed to keep it under his bed for safety and to take it out and read it occasionally before going to sleep. On one of these occasions he absent-mindedly stood his cocoa mug on the document leaving an unmistakable 'ring'" (p 103).

"This document was found among the School's papers before the war. Its importance was recognised by Tom Tremlett, the history master...a Government licence had to be obtained before such a document could be sold abroad...it was only possible to persuade the authorities to grant the export licence for its purchase by the Australian National Museum" (p.110).

"The Chairman of the Finance Committee peered at it and at the label and said, "Absolute rubbish. If that document is what the label says, it would be worth a fortune". That was the last we saw of it. It was taken to Sotheby's that week...Now the cat was out of the bag. Sotheby's wanted the outrageous sum of £60 a month to insure it while they kept it. Speed became important. There was a mistaken belief that such an historic document could be exported only to the Commonweath; but even after it transpired that the world markets were open, the Governors felt honour bound to proceed with their negotiations within the Commonwealth and Australia relieved us of the document, and the very considerable burden of £60 a month, and paid us £12,500. They were riches indeed in those days" (pp 263-264).

Lyon House was one of the new buildings which was made possible as a result of the sale.

So indirectly I could claim that I owe significant elements of my own secondary education - and perhaps my sense of  "British values" - to the sale and export of the school's priceless Magna Carta inspeximus
(current value US$20 million to 30 million, even allowing for Tom Tremlett's cocoa-mug ring stain?)

See also, posting on John Steinbeck in Bruton. Perhaps a Steinbeck novel should remain in the UK literature curriculum! Steinbeck obviously appreciated some traditional British values.

For a rather different view of British history and values, see Owen Jones in The Guardian (16 June, 2014) , and a response from Daniel Hannan in The Telegraph:

"I've described Magna Carta before as the Torah of the English-speaking peoples – the text that sets us apart while, at the same time, speaking universal truths to the human race. In placing the law above the government, it established, in a written, contractual form, the precept that was to lift us above the run of nations. In creating an enforcement mechanism – a council that would, within 50 years, become the Parliament that still meets in Westminster – it ensured that representative government was not a mechanism for the majority to override the minority, but a guarantor of freedom".

Tools for Defining and Teaching "British Values"?

A good start could be made by suggesting that schools should be provided with a reader such as "Democracy in Britain", edited by Jack and Adam Lively.

This book project was the eventual outcome of a proposal put to The British Council by Polish Deputy Minister of Education, Ing. Wiktor Kulerski, in Warsaw on 15th November, 1989. He expressed to me the need for books on democracy, saying that he would like to get Polish students interested in the British democratric tradition and the writings of authors such as Mill and Milton. In my English Language and English Studies in East Europe Sectoral Report (9 February 1990) I wrote, "An anthology might be the ideal solution". The plan was that copies would go into all libraries of schools and other educational institutions. The final anthology, which took some years in commissioning, researching and publication, also included important extracts from the Magna Carta. Jack and Adam Lively did a very good job.

Sounds ideal! Time for an updated new edition? This is a broad and balanced presentation of what might be meant by "British Values".

Nikos Kazantzakis also had something to say about British values and virtues, in the 1940 prologue to his travel book, "England" (English translation, 1965):

"I loved these people, admired their virtues, so fundamental for man: pride, dignity, determination, power of resistance, discipline- few words, many deeds, great humanity...Here too even the most insignificant victory was heavily paid for.

But after centuries, over the rocks and green hills and harbours of England, three great English monuments were erected: Magna Carta, the Gentleman, and Shakespeare. These are the three great triumphs of man made in England. And all three of these triumphs constitute great stages in the ascent of freedom."

Kazantzakis was not being ironical, writing at the outbreak of World War II.

Ian Whitwham holds a different opinion...

He is being ironical.