The boy who had been King Edward V….

Ladies and gentlemen, please remember that this novella is a fictional account of what might have happened to the boys known as the Princes in the Tower. The theory about Coldridge is not my original thought, nor have I done anything personally to help prove it. To my knowledge there is nowhere called Oakhanger in Kent, let alone that it was held by the Earl of Lincoln. I… Continue reading The boy who had been King Edward V….

A bearded Henry VII….?

  Here is an interesting link about the death of Henry VII. It includes an illustration from the TV series The Spanish Princess, in which Henry seems to have sprouted a beard. Really? I don’t think so, somehow. All his portraits show him clean-shaven, including one painted when he was getting on in years. But… Continue reading A bearded Henry VII….?

Secret Marriages – Edward IV & his Two Wives, the Novel

Over the years there has been lots of fiction written about Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville and of course Richard III. However, there is one one figure in their story who often gets a mention, but  is rarely portrayed as a living person, with the events long after her death in 1468 taking the forefront instead. … Continue reading Secret Marriages – Edward IV & his Two Wives, the Novel

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… Continue reading SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III: HERO OR VILLAIN?

Seeking the Real Duke of Clarence

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Richard III’s brother, George of Clarence. You know the one–typical ‘middle child’, ‘false fleeting Clarence’, the one drowned in Malmsey who was also a drunk and quite possibly insane, hanging, as he did,  old ladies on the vaguest of suspicions. And I began considering–is George, like Richard, maligned,… Continue reading Seeking the Real Duke of Clarence

A fictional treason case

In real life, there were no high treason cases in the United Kingdom after 1946 and no peacetime cases after 1913. However, regular viewers of Crown Court, which was shown on ITV from 1972-84, will have seen an episode in which a Congolese man was convicted and sentenced to death during that time. The episode… Continue reading A fictional treason case

Book Review: We Speak No Treason

We Speak No Treason by Rosemary Hawley Jarman Review by Lisl (2013) Because I sometimes have a tendency to borrow too many books from the library, it happens on occasion that I tire of keeping up with conflicting due dates and end up tossing the lot into a bag to haul them back, unread. Such… Continue reading Book Review: We Speak No Treason

Historical fiction, and why it grips us so . . . .

This is a blog from me that was written for: http://halebooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/historical-fiction-and-why-it-grips-us-so/ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that . . . . Well, the famous Jane Austen opening line is one of the most memorable of all time, and not only in historical fiction, which is what Pride and Prejudice has now become. It was, of… Continue reading Historical fiction, and why it grips us so . . . .