Torquay and Torre Abbey

Thanks to our friends at the Legendary Ten Seconds, I had heard of Torre Abbey but didn’t realise that it was open to visit, as convenient or spectacular as it is. Half of the original building remains, on three floors including an art exhibition, whilst the other half (including the church) is a ruin, complete…

A much simpler analysis: Herr today, gone tomorrow?

This time, Useful Charts determines the hypothetical King (Emperor) of Germany. The Emperors from 1871 were the Hohenzollerns, an ancient family who had become Kings of Prussia, the largest of the four remaining component monarchies alongside Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttenburg and several smaller states. The 2018 video, ironically marking the centenary of the abdication shows…

Another interesting hypothesis

On Thursday, we published a presentation by “Useful Charts”, showing how the English throne may have descended had Henry VIII’s will been followed after 1603 as it had beforehand. Of course, the family in question may have fared differently anyway if Lady Katherine Grey, her Seymour husband, and son and Arbella Stuart, the latter’s wife,…

What has MKJ started?

If 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…

My reaction to Lucy Worsley’s Christmas Carol Odyssey….

Sometimes the stories behind our much-loved Christmas carols are quite disheartening, involving as they do national and international strife and religious rivalry that was both bloody and filled with hatred. Yet every year we sing the resultant carols with joy. The reactions of the human race are sometimes contradictory. To say the least! I am…

Dismal Sewage

They say every writer should find a niche. Unfortunately, certain ‘popular historians’ seem to have leapt onto  ‘gimmicks’ than a niche and write all or most of their books in similar vein, often to the detriment of their work and a growing lack of credibility with each further tome. A trend amongst several notable authors…

Plus ca change …

Here is an Evening Standard article about Clauvino da Silva (left), a Brazillian gang leader who tried to escape from prison disguised as his own daughter, but his “feminine walk” was unconvincing and he didn’t leave the prison. He seems to have hanged himself the following day. Things turned out differently for William Maxwell, the…

Five important royals who didn’t ascend the throne….

Would these be your five? Or do you have other suggestions? PS Who can spot their deliberate mistake?

The ten worst Britons in history?

This is a very entertaining and well-illustrated 2006 article, choosing one arch-villain for each century from the eleventh to the twentieth. The all-male list includes just one King but two Archbishops of Canterbury. So what do you think?