From My Blog

To Berkhamsted

To Berkhamsted, to lay some flowers at Peter the Wild Boy’s grave. Also to the school to see his iron collar once again and to film it. We interviewed the school librarian, who was young and cool, not at all what we were expecting!

octagonal ‘fountain … gilt with fine gold’

My favourite history ‘experience’ of 2012 has just been published in History Today magazine: ‘The historical ‘thing’ [we could chose books, films, anything] that has given me the most pleasure this year is our recreation at Hampton Court of Henry VIII’s wine fountain.  The original was constructed in a field outside Calais in 1520 for

An exciting weekend in Swindon

An exciting weekend in Swindon (sounds unlikely, but it’s true) at the National Trust’s AGM.  I took part in a debate about whether bringing properties to life is dumbing down or not. I’d feared being eaten alive by apoplectic Colonel Mustards, but how wrong I was!  The membership were wonderfully receptive, even enthusiastic, about trying

Mugging up again on the Hampton Court Conference

Mugging up again on the Hampton Court Conference of 1604 and the agreement made there that a new translation of the bible was required – which led to printing of The King James Bible. 2011 will be the anniversary of its publication in 1611 (yes, it took them all that time to do the actual

Old Operating Theatre Museum at St Thomas’s Hospital

Just back from a visit to the Old Operating Theatre Museum at St Thomas’s Hospital in Southwark. There I was particularly glad to see a picture of Margaret White, the first recorded woman to survive an operation for a strangulated umbilical hernia, i.e. the condition that killed poor old (contemporary) Queen Caroline.   She could

An assistant GMTV weather girl for the morning

I sprang from my bed at 4.30 to be an assistant GMTV weather girl for the morning. (Though really, how can it be possible that such a demeaning phrase is still in common use?) As well as the weather we managed to cover Henry VIII, Shakespeare, Katherine Howard, James I and Katherine of Braganza’s fertility

Tapestry wash at Hampton Court Palace today

Tapestry wash at Hampton Court Palace today. They’re reaching down with their sponges to loosen the dirt, then the big boom comes over to spray it with water.  A wet, dirty tapestry smells like an old goat.

I’ll be on Channel 4, 8pm, tomorrow,

I’ll be on Channel 4, 8pm, tomorrow, in ‘The Curse of the Hope Diamond‘. Do watch this, it was such fun exploring the story of this fabulous but rather sinister jewel – it put me right off the idea of owning a diamond myself. I haven’t actually seen the finished programme yet, but as well

Replica set of whalebone hoops

So, if you want to see the replica set of whalebone hoops I was talking about on Saturday Live this morning, here’s a picture of Fi Glover in the studio with them. I’m told that I turned several stomachs with my description of Queen Caroline’s heroic but gory end.

BBC’s ‘History of the World’ series

Tomorrow our programme in the BBC’s ‘History of the World’ series (which uses museum treasures to tell great stories from English history) called ‘King Alfred … the Great?’ goes out on BBC1, in the South, at 7.30pm. Watch a clip here, or better still, join us tomorrow night, or on Iplayer!