BBC2
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This was shown on BBC2 over three consecutive Mondays, featuring an all-Italian excavation of the abandoned city and the British volcanologist Dr. Chris Jackson. It featured the familiar story of the two-day eruption and pyrochastic flow killing thousands, including Pliny the Elder, before they could escape as many ran from the lava towards the sea…
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This programme was first shown about twenty-five years ago and is now being repeated for the D-Day anniversary. It was presented by Richard Holmes, a military history lecturer and a Territorial Army officer, covering battlefields from centuries of conflicts. Series 2 covered Bosworth quite well, although it described “Tudor” as a “Lancastrian claimant” ready for…
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I am a little late for the first episode of this new three-part documentary series about seven modern celebrities of all different faiths and beliefs undertaking pilgrims’ travels through various parts of North Wales. They will hike through ancient Welsh sites, including Flint Castle and St Winefride’s Holy Well, but the final programme appears to…
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Michael Portillo’s Great Coastal Railway Journeys and Pembroke Castle
“Tudors”, Ancestry, BBC2, bigamy, Carmarthenshire, Catherine de Valois, denialists, Edmund “Tudor”, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Ednyfed Fychan, Edward IV, Glamorgan, Great Coastal Railway Journeys, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hywel Dda, Jasper “Tudor”, John Ashdown-Hill, legislation, Llewellyn ap Iorweth, Maredydd ap Tudor, Michael Portillo, Mortimers of Wigmore, Nathen Amin, Owain Tudor, Pembroke Castle, pre-contract, remarriage of royal stepmothers, Rhodri Dda, Richard III, Royal Marriage Secrets, stewards, TenbyI have enjoyed watching Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys particularly the programmes that have shown him travelling along the coast of South Wales. He stopped off in places that I know well in Glamorgan, also in places that my ancestors hailed from in Carmarthenshire. However, one programme ended up in Pembroke and I must…
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Lucy Worsley “proves” Richard III murdered his nephews….!
battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, Science, sources, television reviews, The play’s the thing“Princes”, ambush, Battle of Bosworth, BBC2, bias, bigamy, bones, British Museum, Charles II, coins, Coronation, Dighton, Domenico Mancini, dressing-up box, Edward IV’s will, Elizabeth Wydeville, executions, Forrest, Henry VII, Hicks, illegitimacy, James Butler, JCB, Lord Protector of the Realm, Lucy Worsley, Ludlow Castle, Matt Lewis, More, Old St. Paul’s, pre-contract, Ralph Shaa, Richard III, Richard of Shrewsbury, scoliosis, Sir Anthony Wydeville, Stony Stratford, Tanner and Wright, Tim Thornton, Tower of London, Turi King, Tyrrell “confession”Episode 3 of Lucy Worsley‘s latest TV series is about The Princes in the Tower, and from the outset it’s clear that Lucy is Lady Dracula, because she goes for Richard III’s jugular at every opportunity. The thought that he might be innocent doesn’t seem to occur to her because she’s utterly convinced of…
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This was shown on BBC2 during August and the subject has been covered several times in recent years, not least with our old friend Dr. Starkey. However, I am pleased I watched it for two reasons. The first is that The Boleyns: A scandalous family discussed the situation from the perspective of Thomas Boleyn seeking…
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Stonehenge is an endless source of curiosity and speculation, with theories abounding and routes/methods considered in considerable depth. Even Merlin gets a look-in, believing by some to have flown the stones from Wales to Wiltshire by means of magic. Well, that’s always a possibility, because Merlin was, perhaps still is, the greatest wizard there ever…
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On Tuesday 2nd March a new series commences on BBC2 (9 pm) about what may or may not be revealed by the in-depth study of DNA and sequencing genomes. Of course, this will include Richard. How can it not? Especially when Professor Turi King is involved. Richard is surely the most important and prominent historical…
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This Mail on Sunday interview with Jonathan Rhys Meyers is sadly, mostly about his current personal problems. However, one or two paragraphs towards the end, should be of interest: But it was his lead role in TV drama The Tudors, as the criminally charismatic Henry VIII, that made everyone take note, even though Rhys Meyers…
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