Not Just the Tudors

Every spring and summer of her 44 year reign, Queen Elizabeth I insisted that her court go "on progress" — royal visits to towns and aristocratic homes. These trips provided the only direct contact mo...

19 Jun 202344min

Experts at Hever Castle - the childhood home of Anne Boleyn - have made an extraordinary discovery. They’ve established that an ornate 1527 prayer book — kept in a Cambridge library for more than 350 ...

15 Jun 202334min

Shakespeare’s First Folio — the first book to contain 36 of his plays, 18 of which had not been in print before — was published in 1623.In the second of her special series marking its 400th anniversar...

12 Jun 202343min

In 1567, a sailor named David Ingram sailed from Plymouth with 400 others on a slaving expedition. The ensuing events read like a fantastic adventure story: shipwrecked in a hurricane off Mexico, a ba...

8 Jun 202344min

Three powerful Renaissance queens all lived together at the French court for many years. They were bound together through blood and marriage, alliance and friendship — bonds that were tested when they...

5 Jun 202347min

Four hundred years ago in 1623, the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays was printed. Known as the First Folio, the book was integral to establishing Shakespeare's posthumous reputation just...

1 Jun 202344min

Why do we call the Great Fire of London in 1666 “great”? Was it because of the significant challenge it posed to authorities and residents as they sought to bring it under control? Was it because of t...

29 Mai 202342min

King Henry VII and his Tudor heirs knew very little about Ireland, over which they ruled in name at least. During the 118 years of Tudor rule, not one of its monarchs ever set foot in the Emerald Isle...

25 Mai 202350min