Why Spartan children were afraid of cheese

THE ancient Greek city of Sparta was, according to historian Bettany Hughes, "a strange place". She bases this observation on such facts as money being outlawed, equality enforced, weak children exterminated, and male homosexuality being compulsory. After learning that, who'd argue with her? Certainly not me.

At times I was far too busy studying her collection of figure-hugging T-shirts, worn with tight jeans, to pay attention to the first part of her three-part series on the Spartans. Her appearance was as striking as the scenery in this stunningly-photographed history lesson.

Sparta was known for its frugality - hence our use of the word spartan - and its fighters. This ancient Greek people aimed to create the perfect state protected by perfect warriors. Surprisingly, two kings ruled at a time which, as Hughes pointed out, gave "twice the potential for rows that monarchs are prone to".

The Spartan search for perfection weeded out the weak, starting with the children. Hughes showed us the ravine where newly-born children were tossed if they failed to match up to the Spartan perfection. At seven, boys were taken from their families and placed in the training system, where they were treated little better than animals.

They were constantly tested, making growing up not so much an education as a trial by ordeal. One rites of passage test saw boys required to retrieve as many items as possible from a pile of cheeses. This may sound like something out of The Generation Game but was much more brutal, as "contestants" fought their way through a line of boys armed with whips, used without mercy or restraint, to get to the cheeses. Many suffered horrific injuries, some were beaten to death.

That may have been preferable to what they had to eat a meal times - black soup, made of boiled pigs' blood and vinegar. "Now I understand why they are willing to die," said one of their enemies after hearing the menu.

Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway will have lost a lot of friends in the fashion industry with The Art Show. His message was that the British public is being conned into buying expensive labels by a conspiracy of designers, advertisers and magazines. What they do has everything to do with big business and nothing to do with fashion and the consumer.

"Parts of the fashion industry stink and I'm getting the air freshener out," he told us at the start. Whether those he interviewed were aware he was going to put the boot in remains unclear. He didn't get the chance to confront "Emperor Armani" as cameras were barred from entering the party with Hemingway. He returned to tell us we hadn't missed anything - "blooming boring" was his verdict.

Dan Cruickshank was more enthusastic (irritatingly so, at times) in the Britain's Best Buildings edition about Durham Cathedral, which he described as being as enigmatic as the Pyramids. It was built as a resting place for St Cuthbert after his followers had carried him around for 250 years.

The most amusing moment came when Cruickshank used eggs to illustrate the strength of stone arches. As he applied pressure on the shell, the egg burst out like an alien from John Hurt's chest and covered the presenter with runny, yellow yolk.