Boris Johnson, mop-headed sometime journalist and now Mayor of London, is always going on about Latin, quoting Virgil, Cicero and the like. It may just be because he went to Eton and had it beaten into him, but it’s more likely that he actually thinks it helps him make a point now and again. Why do I say this? Well, mainly because I do think a smattering of Latin does help you write better English, even if you can’t quote the stuff in its raw form.

The best thing a bit of Latin does is help you realise the full underlying meaning of words. So imperative, for example, doesn’t just mean very important, it means so damned important that the emperor (imperator) himself will not be best pleased if you don’t see to it right now. Gives an otherwise ordinary word a lot more flavour.

And bear-trap words like solipsistic. Piece of cake with a bit of Latin. The sol part means ‘only’ and the ips bit means ‘itself’. So someone who is solipsistic thinks only of himself (or herself, but I find it tends to be blokes).

Most wanted picture: Boris in a toga.