Lord Baker of Dorking was Secretary of State for Education and Science from May 1986 until July 1989. He was responsible for the 1988 Education Reform Act which introduced,for the first time, a National Curriculum in England and Wales. He set up a series of working groups to devise the new school curriculum. He discusses the reasons for introducing a national curriculum and his expectations of the History Working Group. His preference was for an overarching 'timeline' in the history curriculum. He reflects on the benefits which have resulted from the National Curriculum, but regrets that history was not made compulsory between the ages of 14 and 16, as he has initially intended. Interviewed by Nicola Sheldon.