Hay Festival 2012: Bettany Hughes: 'Greece is a very sturdy nation' One of the reasons people love going to Greece is because they are so welcoming and warm-hearted. If I travel through Greece, probably only 60 per cent of the time will I have to pay for what I'm eating or where I'm staying. If you looked at that in an account book, you'd say, "This is ridiculous" but surely it has to be worth its weight in gold?" Hughes's first sesssion will ask what the study of Classics can offer the world today. The subject is undergoing a revival in schools - thanks, Hughes believes, to the popularity of Harry Potter (full of Latin spells), The Hunger Games (inspired by Greek myth and Roman gladiators) and the gory Hollywood blockbuster 300 (an account of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC). Some historians might be snooty about this, but not Hughes. "Popular culture has done a huge favour to the Classics, actually, because it has made people realise this is a door they want to open," she enthuses. And without being too schmaltzy about it, we definitely live in a time where kids want to know why things happen - there's a more questioning feel to the next generation, and Classics is a great way of channelling some of that and asking the right questions about the world. Hughes, 45, credits an eccentric Classics teacher ("we never knew whether she was going to be declining verbs or telling us about her first kiss") with helping her to pursue a career as historian. She studied Ancient and Modern History at Oxford University and was struck by the absence of female historians on screen. I was definitely aware there weren't any women doing it and that just seemed really weird - why was it all guys? But breaking into television wasn't easy. One BBC producer turfed her out of his office with the message that "nobody wants to be lectured by a woman." There followed years "with people looking at me as if I'd crawled out from under a stone" before a Channel 4 executive gave her a chance and commissioned her series on The Spartans. Now her programmes are sold in 70 territories and have reached an audience of 100 million, while her books are best-sellers. Sexism still rears its head, though - if it's not David Starkey grumbling that female rivals churn out "historical Mills and Boon," it's AA Gill claiming that classicist Mary Beard is too ugly for TV. Hughes prefers to rise above all this. I just think they're totally unhelpful. What a waste of energy, actually. If you believe in what you're doing and what you're doing is good, just do it - why bother to slag somebody off? There's no doubt that some people are very canny and measure the column inches in their heads before they say what they're going to say, but that's not my schtick. She did rush to the defence of Beard, a personal friend, and spoke from experience. "AA Gill once wrote that he couldn't concentrate on what I was saying about 5th century Athens because my bum was so big," she says with a snort of laughter. The only thing I thought was, well, I'm not even going to bother to go to the gym now. The idea that serious presenters need to be attractive is nonsense, she says. People always talk about looks but they really, really don't matter on telly. You can have the most beautiful man or woman but if they can't communicate, they're terrible. People should be commenting on your ability to get across ideas and make an audience delight in what you're doing. She remains baffled by descriptions of her as a "glamorous" historian. My daughters [Sorrel, 15, and May, 12] just think it's hilarious; they know if I brush my hair that's a good day. There's lots on the blogosphere saying, "Oh, Bettany with her cherry red lipstick" - but I've never worn lipstick in my life! Telly accentuates the colours, so it can make you look like you're wearing make-up when you're not. She tries to let any criticism wash over her. If you've signed up to be in that medium, it's inevitable that people are going to make comments about how you look on screen. If you become self-conscious you can't do what you do. Hughes is certainly not concerned about glamour at Hay - last year she lectured in pair of wellies. She describes herself as "a true Hay devotee. Basically it gives me hope for humanity, the idea that people say, "I'm going to spend eight quid, walk through a field and go and listen to the most random, brilliant conflation of speakers."" This being Hughes, it all goes back to the Greeks. It's very Socratic - that this is what the good life is, sitting face to face with people and sharing ideas about what it is to be human. It's pretty much heaven on earth, I'd say. For more information about Hay Festival and Bettany Hughes's talks visit the telegraph's Hay page and www.hayfestival.com