The Hairy Bikers – Watch ‘Em by Day or Knight

One of the blessings of 24 hour live streaming or semi-blessings of paying for Amazon Prime is that American foodies can come into contact with some of Britain’s finest cooks and chefs. Whether it is Gordon Ramsey cursing out prisoners toiling in the dank kitchens of Brixton, Rick Stein pretending to enjoy the food of…

A 14th-century village in South Wales….

  The TV series In Search of Medieval Britain, presented by Dr Alixe Bovey, is being repeated at the moment. In it she follows the Gough Map, thought to be the oldest surviving detailed map of England and Wales. Last night I watched the episode concerning Wales, during which she mentioned Cosmeston Medieval Village.  Now,…

Did our medieval vessels have the Viking sunstone for navigation….?

  I have just watched an episode (series 1, episode 5) of the Mysteries of the Missing documentary series. Half of this one dealt with the mysterious sunstones of the Vikings, by which they are believed to have navigated the Atlantic. They also used wooden sundials (hand-held) that worked when the sun was out, but…

A documentary to watch only if you believe in Tudor myths about Richard….!

  Oh, indeed, as Captain Bertorelli would have said, “What a mistake-a to make-a!” I certainly made one when I turned to the PBS America channel on TV, and they were showing Who Killed the Princes in the Tower? Well, it might contain one voice of reason (John Ashdown-Hilll) but it also has much more…

Following the Gough Map of Medieval Britain….

    Last night I watched an episode of In Search of Medieval Britain presented by Dr Alixe Bovey. The series concerns journeys that follow the famous Gough Map of medieval Britain and is very interesting and enlightening. The episode I watched concerned ‘London and the South East’, and I learned a few things I…

The true identity of the Black Death….?

Last night I cheered myself up by watching the PBS documentary The Mystery of the Black Death. No, that opening sentence was facetious, because I have to say that the programme was actually very interesting. And rather uncanny in that it was stated the pestilence started in Italy, then Spain, and then gradually spread through…