BBC2
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The real life of the last Stuart
Act of Settlement, Acts of Union, Anne, Anne Hyde, Battle of Sedgemoor, BBC2, Catherine of Braganza, Channel Four, Charles II, Charlotte of Wales, childbirth, Clare Jackson, Emma Stone, George I, George of Denmark, Glorious Revolution, Hanoverians, historical drama, illegitimacy, James “VIII/III”, James VII/II, Jeremiah Clarke, Mary II, Mary of Modena, Monmouth Rebellion, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Restoration, Royal Deaths and Diseases, Sophie Electress of Hanover, Stuarts, The Favourite, Trumpet Voluntary, William Duke of Gloucester, William IIITelevision history is rarely focused upon Anne (left), except as the final act of the Stuart drama like this or her unfortunate reproductive history in this series. Discussion is, therefore, reduced to the cliches of her fragile family, her weight and her fondness for brandy. She is also omitted from most dramatisations of the time, such…
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Last night I watched (on PBS America) a BBC2 Timewatch episode entitled The Mysteries of the Medieval Ship. It concerned the discovery, in June 2002, of a foundered/scuttled medieval vessel of some size, buried in the oozing mud of the Severn Sea – well, the oozing mud of the River Usk, at Newport, to be…
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Today in 1461, which was Palm Sunday, the Battle of Towton was fought, resulting in a Yorkist victory with large scale casualties. Legend has it that Henry VI fled to Muncaster Castle, then in Cumberland, where he gave his host Sir John Pennington a glass drinking bowl. It became known as the “Luck of Muncaster”…
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Yet another case
Audley case, BBC2, Bontems, Canale Plus, denialists, Duc de St. Simon, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Fontainebleau, France, Harlay Archbishop of Paris, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Louis XIV, Marquise de Maintenon, marriage law, morganatic marriage, Pere la Chaise, Richard Earl Rivers, Royal Marriage Secrets, Saudi Arabia, secret marriage, VersaillesThis year’s third series of “Versailles” reminded me of a further instance of secret marriage, even though some people maintain that nobody ever married in secret despite this case, that spawned two whole books, this one and this just decades ago, let alone Edward IV and Elizabeth Wydeville or her parents. In 1683 or 1684,…
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This BBC documentary was actually very good and it worked because Starkey spoke about a subject he knows inside out – the Reformation and Henry VIII, relating it to current affairs. From Luther’s theses, indulgences and translating the Bible, first into German then English, he moved onto Tyndale‘s efforts to smuggle it into England and…
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… “Primary School Challenge”? According to one of the Cambridge teams on January 9th, Edward IV and Edward V had the same mother. According to Jeremy Paxman, Margaret “Beaufort” was married to the Duke of Burgundy. To be fair, she did marry four times, even though the first was annulled. Oh dear. Weshall have to…