The real life of the last Stuart

Television 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…

SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III: HERO OR VILLAIN?

” Never let it be said that fate itself could awe the soul of Richard.            Hence babbling dreams, you threaten here in vain;            Conscience avaunt, Richard’s himself again” (The tragical history of King Richard the Third)[1]   Richard’s himself again: or is he? There is a moment in Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s play…

NOW WE HAVE ROBERT–WHY NOT RICHARD?

Netflix will soon be showing a new medieval series, ‘OUTLAW KING’, about Scotland’s Robert the BRUCE. While I have no idea how good the script is or how close the series will stay to the historical record, the costumes and hair styles seem more appropriate to the time than many recent offerings. It’s not overtly…