religion
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Further Royal ancestry – twice over this time
Alexander Armstrong, BBC1, Bear Grylls, bigamy, Bruce Forsyth, Canada, cellists, Chris Ramsey, Chris van Tulleken, Claire Foy, Clare Balding, composers, Danny Dyer, Dev Griffin, Emily Atack, Henry III, honours, Josh Widdicombe, Julian Lloyd Webber, katherine Willoughby, Kevin Clifton, Lancastrians, Lesley Manville, Lloyd Webber, musicians, Netherlands, Richard Bertie, royal descent, Scotland, Scouts, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Peregrine Maitland, USA, Waterloo, Who do you think you are?, Xand van TullekenWho do you think you are, the celebrity genealogy show with some surprising results, has returned to BBC1 on Thursday evenings. The twentieth series, of nine episodes, began with Andrew, Lord Lloyd Webber, whose parents, cellist brother Julian and late son Nick were also known to be musically talented, but makes some uncannily similar connections…
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I thought that the Lily White Boys (as mentioned in the lyrics of the 12th-century song Green Grow the Rushes O) were a reference to Christ and St John the Baptist. Well, that was what I was told. But then in John Gardner’s book The Life and Times of Chaucer I came upon a reference…
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I’m afraid that I’m not a lover of Shakespeare’s works. I think the blame for this can be laid squarely at the feet of ‘O’ English Literature. I was bored rigid. But when it came to the much earlier Geoffrey Chaucer, which I didn’t read until after leaving school, I loved every word. Maybe if…
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St Lawrence’s church in Hampshire is, from the outside, a rather unassuming parish church with an unsightly stucco exterior. Inside, however, it has several very interesting historical features that make it well worth a visit. The church is Norman, with later additions from the 13th and 15th c. It contains an even earlier Saxon font,…
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I can’t say that Henry III has ever fired me with enthusiasm. Come to that, I can’t wax lyrical about any of the Henrys, least of all numbers VII and VIII of course. The last pair set my teeth grinding. David Carpenter has now written the second volume of his Henry III biography, which…
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Recently, John Halle’s house in Salisbury, a 15th century building and home to the Odeon Cinema, went up for auction. John Halle was a local merchant and a rather fractious fellow–he upset Edward IV and ended up cooling his heels in the Tower for a while, after having a major dispute with Richard Beauchamp, Bishop…
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All that Ricardians and Yorkists need to know about this article is the following: “….Richard III (1483-1485): He was the brother of Edward IV. His ruthless method of removing all opposition and the alleged murder of his nephews made his rule very unpopular….” Ruthless? Richard? If he had been, Margaret Beaufort would have been…
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At first glance you’d think this article by Peter Hitchens of the Mail Online is going to be in praise of Tony Blair, especially when you also see the above photograph. But the former Prime Minister only comes into it to illustrate how at least one modern myth sprang up. The article goes on the…
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13 October was the Feast of the Translation of Edward the Confessor, who was Richard II’s most cherished saint and king. So great was Richard’s veneration that he even impaled the Confessor’s arms with the royal arms of England. See above. And on this day every year of he presented a gift at the saint’s…
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Christ Stapleton (the Deputy News Editor who identifies as He/Him) has written an article about “the run-up to Roses [2023]”. You can read about Roses 2023 here. Unfortunately, the first mention of Richard III describes him as “infamous”. Then we get: “….Richard schemed to have his brother’s two children proved illegitimate, which would allow him…
