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Trafford METRO
Thursday 24 June 2010
‘Veni, vidi, vici,’ - Sale teenager Patrick Heaton came, saw and conquered when he won a world wide Latin translation competition.
The Manchester Grammar School Sixth Form student produced perfect prose to beat top scholars from as far a field as Australia, Germany, Italy and Tunisia.
Sitting two papers for unseen translation and classical history, Paddy won the prestigious CICERO competition to be recognised as one of the very best young translators worldwide.
Paddy is reading Latin, Greek, Mathematics and Music in the MGS Sixth Form and hopes to study Classics at Cambridge.
He said: I enjoy the challenge of the language. From an early age I was fascinated by its almost mathematical structure.
Paddy added: I particularly enjoy epic classical poetry such as Homer, which reveals a sophisticated culture and timeless view of the human condition.
Latin continues to be a popular option at MGS. It is compulsory in Years 7 and 8, with around 50 boys going on to take GCSE and another 10 each year taking A level or the new IB option.
Miss Holly Eckhardt, Head of Classics at MGS, said: It is a popular view that Latin is important because it forms the basis of so many modern European languages, including English, but I think it also has an intrinsic value of itself.
As an inflected language, which changes its endings, it is very difficult and a real test for the young mind. Thereafter it opens up so much of a wonderfully rich culture upon which our own society is based.
Paddy added: Latin is certainly difficult at first, but the more you read, the more you begin to understand its structure and appreciate its fluency and versatility.
Next year MGS will be one of the regional centres hosting the CICERO competition, which this year was sponsored by famous classical scholar Boris Johnson and Olympics supremo Seb Coe among others.
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