To mark its 800th anniversary, the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta were displayed in the Houses of Parliament on Friday. On loan for one day only, they were delivered under tight security (ridiculously early in the morning!), with last week being the only time they’ve ever been assembled together. I was lucky to be asked to record the event for Parliament, enabling me to get up close as they arrived and were condition checked. Seen by many as a global symbol for the rule of law, they definitely seemed to produce a universal feeling of almost holy reverence from the lucky few who got to see them – from school children and ticket ballot winners, to Lords and the endearingly mad professor-like Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, who spoke passionately about their relevance in the modern world and the need for a new Magna Carta for the internet.
Wow Roger, what an honour to be so close to something so old and precious(apart from Dad that is!)
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