Retracting our footsteps through history

What do a maharajah and a TV captain have in common? Before having to stay at home, Derek James and his grandson Gabriel went to Thetford to find out.

- Derek James

When I was growing up in the Norfolk of the 1950s the last place I wanted to be was in a museum.

I remember a school visit to Norwich Castle where a large gentleman in a uniform kept telling us to keep moving and not to touch anything.

It was many years later when I returned . . . what a difference!

Today our museums across Norfolk and Suffolk really have got their act together and are places where the young and young at heart get a warm welcome. They come in all shapes and sizes and they have wonderful stories to tell – and tell them in a way which will interest people of all ages.

On the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk is a place called Thetford. Back in the 1970s we lived there and I have always had a soft spot for this town like no other.

Our daughter Verity visited the Ancient House Museum when she was at school there so, when her son Gabriel said he wanted to go to what he called the Tudor house, it was a good excuse to head back to the town.

On the journey Gabriel, who is seven, was telling me things about the Great Fire of London and the Second World War which I didn’t know. And he added: “A Tudor house is quite old.” That’s true.