Why I don't buy the argument that History of Art A-level was axed for being 'soft'

Can I tell you about one of the best weekends of my life? It involved no foreign travel, no booze, no party, no love affair, no sun, sea, shopping or beach.

It was the second weekend of my A-level year and I had been set the first History of Art essay of term: on early Florentine sculpture. My teacher had lent a book from his shelves, I’d borrowed another from the library and half-a-dozen more from my mother. I sat all weekend, rapt at the kitchen table with Andrea Pisano, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi spread around me.

I wrote a seven-page essay in my tiny monk’s handwriting and could have gone on for pages more. In a way I have. I went on to study History of Art at university and now write about art – among other things – for a living. And what a lucky and wonderful way to make a living.