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BETTANY Hughes could feel a bit prickly about being introduced as "the Nigella Lawson of history". She has decided not to. She has decided to take it as it is meant, as a compliment.
"The feminist in me told me I should get upset about it," says Britain's glamour historian at Writers' Week.
"But when I sat down and thought about it, well, the fact is that Nigella is a very intelligent woman. She is very good at what she does. She has made a great success in communicating her passion for a certain subject to a wider audience and, in fact, she is quite similar to me and what I like to do.
"And I am lucky to have hit a time when people have realised how important the past is."
Bettany Hughes, 38, has become the new television face of history. As a specialist in ancient history with a lively tome on Helen of Troy just out on the shelves, she has been making history documentaries for the BBC - on the Spartans, the Minoans and, most recently, Helen of Troy.
There's a small thrill of spite in her television success....