red hot poker
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A pleasant surprise
“Princes”, Avon-Kennet Canal, Birmingham, Bristol, Brunel, canals, centurions, Channel Five, Coventry, Crimewatch, Dan Jones, Edward II, Endeavour Morse, Grand Union Canal, Lancashire towns, Lancaster, Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Liverpool, London, Oxford, Oxford Canal, ports, rainfall, red hot poker, Richard III, Roman roads, The Wench is Dead, trade, transport, YorkshireIn recent years, Dan Jones’ posing and fanciful Crimewatch-style re-enactments, together with Starkeyesque conclusions formed before he started, has marred quite a few series on mediaeval history. Now he seems to have changed tack completely with this series, covering canal building from the middle of the eighteenth century and – yes – I rather enjoyed…
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Dyer or Dire?
Anthony Adolph, BBC1, Berkeley Castle, Buckingham Palace, Catherine Cromwell, Chris Given-Wilson, codpieces, coinage, dancing, Danny Dyer, Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family, Denmark, direct descent, Dover Castle, Dukes of Normandy, dyeing, Edward II, Edward III, Elizabeth Norton, fencing, France, Helmingham Hall, Henry II, Henry Percy, Henry VIII, Historyonics, horses, Hugh le Despenser, Isabella de Valois, Jane Seymour, jousting, Leeds Castle, Louis IX, Nick Knowles, Norway, Piers Gaveston, Ray Winstone, red hot poker, Roger Mortimer, Rollo the Viking, saints, Shrewsbury, Sir John Seymour, St. Margaret of Wessex, sugar banquet, Sweden, Thomas Becket, Tobias Capwell, Tower of London, Tracy Borman, West Ham, Who do you think you are?, William I, Wolf HallMany of you will remember the episode of “Who do you think you are” in which Danny Dyer was revealed as a descendant of Edward III. In this new two part series, he “meets” a few prominent ancestors, some even more distant. The first episode began with Rollo, ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy, which…
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There are many, many false ideas and funny beliefs about the Middle Ages and some of the notable figures who lived in those times. Alfred and the cakes, Edward II and the hot poker, Eleanor of Aquitaine flinging poisoned toads on Fair Rosamund… And of course, almost everything you can think of about Richard III. …