Looking forward to ....

.... well, not everything that is listed in this article by the BBC History Magazine. The hysteria around the centenary of the beginning of what was a disastrous war, followed by an even more disastrous peace, the effects of which are still tormenting us, has already been too much for me. The BBC's mega-event and the various official memorials do not fill me with joy. Even Nigel Jones's book, Peace and War - Britain in 1914 seems, at present, of moderate interest.

Still there are other events and publications to come this year.

Have they found the grave of Alfred the Great? What can be deduced from a Roman child's coffin?

One or two interesting books are listed, particularly, God's Traitors by Jessie Childs, the story of a Catholic family in Elizabethan England and another book on Napoleon (I hope there is something new to be said about him) by Professor Michael Boers.

But it's the exhibitions that one looks forward to. The Vikings in the British Museum, William Kent in the Victoria and Albert, the finding of Tutankhamun in the Ashmolean, the Ming dynasty in the National Museum of Scotland and, no doubt, a few more. Naturally, the Imperial War Museum will be doing us all proud with its First World War galleries.