The date harvest - Telegraph When was the Statute of Westminster? If it comes to that, what happened in 1258? Both are things that Prof David Abulafia says every schoolboy (and schoolgirl) should know. At heart, the professor is right. Pupils, or students as they're now called, should acquire a mental narrative of British history, and on this splendid tree hang some dates. For the professor, in the hothouse of Gonville and Caius, 30 or 40 dates are an aperitif. Indeed, if a child learns that Charles I had his head chopped off in 1649, he might as well know that it was on January 30, hence his celebrated decision to wear two shirts lest he shiver. So it is of little use, except in pub quizzes, to recall that the Statute of Westminster was in 1931 and the Provisions of Oxford in 1258, unless you know what those meant for Indians and barons. Dates are like chapter headings, but it's the story that counts.