Channel Four
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This fascinating Channel Four documentary, featuring Earl Spencer at his family seat since 1508, included a team of archaelogists led by Gone Mediaeval‘s Cat Jarman. They set out to rediscover a lost mediaeval village that was mentioned in the Domesday Book, for which there was some evidence in the cellars of Althorp House. Investigations in…
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What has MKJ started?
Bonapartists, Bourbons, Brandons, Britain’s Real Monarch, Channel Four, Edward IV, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, France, Francisco Franco, Germany, Greys, Henry VIII, Holy Roman Empire, illegitimacy rumours, Jacobites, James VI/I, Mary I, Matt Baker, Michael Earl of Loudoun, Michael K Jones, Orleanists, Roman Emperors, Russia, Spain, Stewarts, Tony Robinson, wills, You TubeIf you watched Channel Four on the first Saturday evening in January 2003, then you will probably remember Michael K. Jones and Tony Robinson discussing Edward IV‘s possible illegitimacy, followed by Britain’s Real Monarch, an investigation into the King or Queen of England if Edward had not existed or been debarred, leading through the Poles…
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There are numerous theories about what happened to the boys in the Tower…and exactly who may have done it. Well, one points the finger at the omnipresent Dr Argentine, under whose dubious care no fewer than three royal patients passed away: the boys in the Tower, and after that Prince Arthur, the Tudor heir. In…
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I have just watched the first episode of Bone Detectives: Britain’s Buried Secrets, featuring Dr Tori Herridge and the delightful Raksha Dave, whom I remember from Time Team, but who is now much in TV evidence. In this new series we’re promised episodes from different periods and different places all over Britain, but this first…
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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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Britain’s Most Historic Towns (2)
“Tudors”, Alice Roberts, ATS, Ben Robinson, Black Death, Bristol, Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, Cardiff, Channel Four, Charles I, chocolate, city walls, coal, defences, Demonology, Dover, dressing up, Dunkirk, Edwardian era, England, English Civil War, Flodden, France, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Georgian era, gin, Henry VIII, James III, James IV, James V, James VI/I, Magna Carta, Marquess of Bute, Mary Stuart, New Model Army, Oxford, Peasants’ Revolt, Plantagenet era, real tennis, Rough Wooing, Sauchieburn, Scottish Reformation, Second World War, Siege of Oxford, slavery, Solway Moss, St. Augustine, Stewarts, Stirling, Stirling Castle, Thomas Becket, witchcraftThis excellent Channel Four programme, presented by Professor Alice Roberts, with Dr. Ben Robinson in the helicopter, has returned for a new series. The early venues were Dover (World War Two, visiting the underground base, concentrating on the retreat from Dunkirk and subsequent Channel defence, meeting some survivors, wearing ATS uniform and riding in a…
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Next month, David Starkey will be talking about Henry VIII on television again (1). However, in this Telegraph interview, he is compared to Henry in several ways, even suggesting that he is that King’s reincarnation. Sadly, the interviewer seems not to understand which of Henry’s marriage ceremonies were valid, or the difference between divorce and…
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Britain’s most historic towns
“Tudors”, Alice Roberts, Battle of Bosworth, Belfast, canary, Channel Four, Cheltenham, Chester, ducking stool, Earl of Oxford, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, executions, fools, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Francis Kett, Henry VII, Henry VIII, heresy, Jasper “Tudor”, justice, Kett Rebellion, Lollards’ Pit, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Low Countries, Mary I, medieval clothes, Morris dancing, Mousehold Heath, Norwich, Norwich Guildhall, pubs, punishments, Reformation, refugees, Robert Kett, Shakespeare, sumptuary laws, weavers, Wensum, Will Kemp, Winchester, YorkThis excellent Channel Four series reached part four on 28th April as Dr. Alice Roberts came to Norwich, showing streets, civic buildings and even a pub that I have previously visited, describing it as Britain’s most “Tudor” town. She began by describing Henry VII as “violently seizing” the English throne (or at least watching whilst…
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