Scoop

Which is Latin for: Greetings, Scoopsters! When I was a boy, I couldn’t get enough of the Greek myths. (I still can’t.) I wanted to fly on the winged horse Pegasus, to sail with Odysseus, to find the Golden Fleece with Jason. I always wanted to learn

Philip studied Classics and English at Oxford University and is an author of children’s books that are all inspired by different myths and legends, from stories of Merlin to Ancient Greek and Roman gods. Can you tell us about the books you write?

It was Plato, the Greek philosopher (born around 425 BCE), who first wrote about the most intriguing of all ancient worlds. He got the story from his ancestor Solon, who had it in turn from a scholarly bunch of Egyptian priests. They told him there h

Armpit pluckers were hired by the Ancient Greeks to pluck hair from the armpits of athletes. Why? Because athletes wanted to look and smell clean, so they went through a daily routine of having their underarm hairs plucked out to get rid of the bad s

Scientists studying the bones of Roman gladiators think these warriors may have regularly guzzled a drink of vinegar, water and plant ashes to help their bodies heal after gruelling training. As well as eating it, Ancient Greeks had other uses for t

It is not as if we can just look up videos of Ancient Romans or listen to their podcasts! When you are looking for clues about their lives, where are the first places you look? You look everywhere. And indeed I think that the evidence left behind by

It was to be the day science stole a pig’s squeal. And it was not for the faint of heart. In central Rome, in AD 163, a crowd had gathered to see the master surgeon of his day – a man who would become renowned for a thousand years as the world’s fine

Name:  PERSEPHONE Parents:   Demeter and Zeus Bio: Kidnapped by King Hades, and taken to the Underworld, Persephone was tricked into eating seven deadly pomegranate seeds, forcing her to live as Hades’ Queen for autumn and winter. She returned to her

Alex, Aristotle and a bleating goat stood in line outside the Temple of Apollo. ‘Intolerable!’ Alex complained. ‘We’re expected to line up with every shepherd, merchant and ruffian as though we’re one of them. I mean, look at these people! No armour.

2,000 years ago, the Roman Emperor Hadrian ruled over an enormous empire. It stretched across Europe, North Africa, and Asia. And, almost as an afterthought, the wet, mostly inconsequential little island of Britannia. The soldiers, sent there to ke

MEMNON WAS THE SON OF TITHONUS, A PRINCE OF TROY, AND EOS, THE GODDESS OF THE DAWN. ACCORDING TO LEGEND THE GODDESS TOOK THE TROJAN PRINCE TO A PLACE CALLED OCEANUS. THE GODDESS AND THE TROJAN HAD A SON WHO GREW UP TO BE A GREAT WARRIOR. MEMNON WAS

The spring is here again Everything is just the same But now I can see the change People covering their face is strange We could walk in the spring And get that fresh whiff Now everything is marked full of risk The use of sanitisers and sprays is

WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE ‘WE WOLVES’ I’ve been in love with wolves since I was six. I met them in enclosures and fairy tales – in the former as magnificent beasts from a long-lost time, in the latter as monsters meant to be slain by the hero. In a w

Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Filippos and I am nine years old. Where do you live? I live in a house in the city of Athens. I live near the centre of the city. There is also a hill close to our house. What is your family like? I li

What makes a book funny? Having a lot of jokes in it. Particularly it’s good if you’re an adult writer writing comedy for kids: don’t talk down to them, comically. Children now are reared on the funniest things ever – The Simpsons, Amazing World of G