DEMAND for archaeology and ancient history courses at Riverside College is booming.

The interest is as a result of popular TV programmes such as Ancient Rome and Time Team.

Teenagers and pensioners have been enrolling on to this year's evening classes.

The AS/A2 ancient history course has been running for five years and this year's group is the biggest ever.

The course involves a study of Roman Britain, the world of ancient Greece, including the exotic ancient Persian empire, the wars between Greece and Persia and the domination of the Greek state of Sparta.

Carl Tyson, humanities lecturer at the college, said: 'We are delighted at the interest this year. The course appeals to those with a keen interest in the past but also those who are looking towards a career where the ability and skill to study, analyse, evaluate and explain are vital, such as in law or journalism.'

The archaeology course was introduced as a GCSE two years ago and has gone on to be delivered as an AS course last year and as an A2 course this year.

In the summer, Mr Tyson arranged for some of his students to volunteer on the dig at the Chester Roman Amphitheatre Project, the largest Roman amphitheatre in the UK.

He said: 'TV programmes like Time Team are a great introduction to archaeology.

'A few of the students volunteered to help on the dig in the centre of Chester this July and really enjoyed it, despite the temperature on some days being higher than in Athens.'

* For further information, call Student Services on 0151 257 2020 or visit www.riversidecollege. ac.uk.