In ancient British times, the whole country belonged to tribes, and the tribes owned their several districts. At the head of each tribe was the chief.
My dad's a history buff, and I spent a lot of time on Hadrian's Wall. I became fascinated by the idea of what was so terrifying up there that the Romans built a 60-mile long, 30-ft-high stone wall to keep it out.
I enjoyed history at school. I'd always had a sense of pagan England.
But if people want to swim in the Thames, if they want to take their lives into their own hands, then they should be able to do so with all the freedom and exhilaration of our woad-painted ancestors.
The Dumnonii, whose city or fortress was at Exeter, were an important people. They occupied the whole of the peninsula from the River Parret to Land's End. East of the Tamar was Dyfnaint, the Deep Vales; west of it Corneu, the horn of Britain.
The Bradshaws suggests an extraordinary civilisation that existed long before modern man reached the British Isles.
So long as classical education and classical prejudices prevailed, educated Englishmen inevitably saw ancient Britain as an alien land.
Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, remains obscure; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians.
