It is a great honour to be the guest speaker at this Speech Day and Prize Giving on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the founding of Hipperholme School.

 

I have to confess that when I received your Headmaster’s invitation the thought did cross my mind that Halifax was rather a long way from London. But I could not resist the terms in which Mr. Robinson’s invitation was couched, and with his permission, I want to quote one passage from his letter. It refers to the decision to go independent in 1985:

 

‘Looking back now’ he wrote, ‘it was the best thing that happened to us. We of course sacrificed a certain intake and had to go looking for it. but we gained immeasurably more in

 

I have tried hard to find a humorous way of introducing this subject. I have failed. The Euro does not lend itself to jest. But at least I hope to talk clearly about it and avoid technicalities.

 

In about six weeks the first Euro notes and coins will become legal tender in eleven EU member states. They will circulate alongside existing national currencies at a fixed rate of exchange before becoming the sole means of payment in those countries in July 2002.

 

What will they look like? I don’t have any specimens to show you. Not much different I expect from the coins and notes you are all used to, only they will be called euros, not francs, deutschmarks or liras, and will carry uplifting European, rather than national, emblems.

 

 

The greatest pleasure in serving on the jury for the Wolfson History Prize is the chance to read so many good books. The Prize was established by the Wolfson Foundation in 1972, at the personal instigation of Leonard Wolfson, to encourage historians 'to make accessible to the general reader as well as to their professional colleagues original historical writings of high quality'. In making their decisions Wolfson juries have been guided by the literary qualities as well as the originality of the works submitted. The first prize was won by Sir Michael Howard for his book Grand Strategy and though most of the prize winners have been academics, there have been notable exceptions such as Frances Donaldson, Alistair Horne, Antonia Fraser,