First two Patrons confirmed - Brian Brivati and Tony Robinson

I'm delighted that Brian Brivati, Director of the John Smith Memorial Trust and former Professor of Contemporary History at Kingston University, has agreed to become a Patron of Gareth's History Trust. So too has Tony Robinson, the well-loved presenter of my favourite series - Time Team, and of course Baldrick in Blackadder.

Gareth and I would look forward to our Sundays watching Time Team, particularly if the programme had a Roman theme. There is nothing as exciting as watching the episode when the team uncovers a mosaic at the bottom of someone's garden in Cirencester. The thinking behind Time Team is similar to that behind Gareth's Trust which is to help make history more accessible to the public by bringing it alive in the here and now, rather than trying to find it only in the pages of books.

We also, along with much of the nation, loved to watch Blackadder, and Blackadder Goes Forth has one of the most poignant moments in British comedy when eventually they do go over the top - Blackadder's 'cunning plan' fails to help them as usual. Gareth was most moved by the way men of all classes were thrown together in the First World War and formed such strong bonds of loyalty during a time of such huge sacrifice. I think that pupils could watch worse things than that series of Blackadder to get a sense, albeit from a light-hearted perspective, of life in the trenches.