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is less dense and therefore rising, giving itgreater potential to condense and form precipitation.By reading the atmospheric pressureand observing whether it is rising or falling, Iam often able to predict if it is about to rain orif it is about to stop raining.To complete the amateur Geographer’s delight,the monitor also provides useful information onthe following day’s sunrise and sunset times.I feel that I have barely scratched the surfaceon this topic, but I hope that I have at leastconvinced some readers that there is somemerit in setting up a weather station in yourback garden.Dr Craig and Geography: A Strong RelationshipBen Peacock: Good morning, Dr Craig, andthank you for agreeing to be interviewed forthe fifth edition of “Habs Geographical”. Beforewe start, would you mind telling us a little bitabout your background? Where did you go toschool and university and what made you wantto teach?Dr Alex Craig: I went to Hitchin Boys’ School,which incidentally I was excited to see we hada Rugby fixture against this year. It was a greatschool for me and I was very well taught indeed.I had fantastic teachers and that wasone of the reasons why I wanted to go intoteaching. I was particularly inspired by a brilliantEnglish teacher and by the School Historyfaculty. It was a good, old-fashioned and traditionalstate comprehensive school with a Grammarschool background. I then went to universityat Christ’s College, Cambridge. I enjoyedmyself so much that I didn’t want to leave, so Itried very hard to stay by doing a PhD in History,on the theme of secret intelligence duringthe Cold War. I also spent a lot of time rowing.BP: We know, of course, that you are a passionateHistory and Politics teacher. Did Geographyfeature much in your interests when youwere younger?DC: I did GCSE Geography, and I rememberhaving the scarring experience of my parentscoming back from Parents’ Evening and tellingme that they had explained to the Geographyteacher that Geography was a subject that hadnot “captured my imagination”! Apparently itwas all right, though, because they then explainedthat it was just the Physical Geographythat I didn’t like so much. The only problemwas that it was the Physical Geography teacherthat they were talking to at the time! To behonest, through, being an Historian, I’m a lot6more interested inGeography nowthan I was when Iwas at school. Mygreatest loves thenwere English, Mathsand History andMusic. I had a fantasticMusic teachertoo – someone afew of you mayhave come across.BP: As you mention, both History and Politicsare often overlapping Geography in a numberof ways. Where do you feel the link most commonlylies, and how closely do you think thetwo subjects are related?DC: I think they are related at a very fundamentallevel. For example, it is impossible tounderstand the history of America withoutknowing that it is a huge country with fantasticresources. Likewise, it is impossible to understandRussia’s history without knowing that it isa very large country that is extremely difficultto control (for one thing, they have the CentralEuropean Plain, which makes them very easyto invade). Geography is therefore a crucialbuilding block of History. Even the weather canbe influential in understanding the course ofhuman history. It is very difficult to understandhow the Russian Revolution developed if youdon’t understand the significance of a very mildspell in February 1917 that ensured that lots ofpeople were prepared to come out and demonstrateon the streets.BP: There has been a lot of recent debateabout the proposed London to Birmingham raillink which threatens areas of England’s coun-