Letter: Place for drama

Fiona McCade (Perspective, 19 April) writes a thought-provoking piece on public levels of general and historical knowledge, particularly in relation to the Titanic disaster and film.

She spoils this in her suggested grading of films for historical accuracy, putting Braveheart as an exemplar of the worst.

It seems that many in Scotland had never heard of William Wallace until Braveheart appeared, which says something about our educational system.

Maybe the UK “establishment” would have liked to keep it that way. While the film does contain some historical impossibilities its makers took more care than is usual over accuracy and we should thank them for this.

For comparison we might look at William Shakespeare’s play MacBeth.

It is a good play but it is not history, though many seem to take it as such. When it is performed there should certainly be a historical “health warning”.

David Stevenson

Blacket Place

Edinburgh