Linda Porter on why she’s happy to leave the sixteenth century behind. Last year I appeared in two programmes in the Channel Five ‘Last Days’ series, talking about Mary Queen of Scots and Charles I. Much of my contribution on Mary was eventually edited out because it did not fit the overall ‘well, she was […]
Britain’s Worst Leader?
In the wake of Brexit, Tom Harper looks to history for comparisons. David Cameron probably doesn’t deserve to be impaled on a red-hot poker. But it wouldn’t be unprecedented. Trying to digest the enormity of the Brexit vote, I’ve been looking to history for comparisons. To be clear: I think it’s a catastrophe. Leave aside, […]
Are the Stuarts the New Tudors?
It’s quite possible that we have reached peak Tudor. Henry VIII’s stinking, gangrenous leg has been endlessly speculated upon, every layer of Elizabeth I’s petticoats has been lifted and thoroughly searched and Anne Boleyn’s execution has been read, learned and inwardly digested from all possible angles. There are even novels that speculate upon what might […]