Poet Laureate Simon Armitage tells the extraordinary tale of a demon-hunting obsessed King, and the witch trials of women from the UK to the US that suffered at the hands of his beliefs.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for her hand for many years and, even as a married man, sparked endless gossip in court with the endless attention that he lavished upon the Queen.
Ironically, however, it wa...
In January 1327 Edward II was forced to abdicate his throne in favour of his 14 year old son Edward III and was then incarcerated at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. He died there 6 months later possibly in the most gruesome of manners.
On January 20th 1936 George V of England was pronounced dead. However, his personal physician made an astounding confession in his private diaries claiming that he, in fact, killed him with the administration of a lethal injection of morphine and heroin effectively murdering a reigning British mo...
The death of The Queen's uncle, The Duke of Kent in a plane crash in 1942 has never been explained and seems never to have been fully investigated. The hellraising Prince was, without doubt an embarrassment to The Royal Family and the Government and this, together with the fact that he was suppos...
Tragedy struck the Papal household in 1497 when Pope Alexander VI's favourite son, Juan, was murdered. Aged 23 he was last seen leaving a feast in Rome. The following morning his horse returned riderless. A search party sent out by his frantic father found his body in the Tiber with a slit throat...
Rumour, speculation and scandal dogged the short life of Albert Victor, known as 'Eddy', the grandson of Queen Victoria. Most fascinating of all was that he was named a suspect in the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' murders of the late 19th century. Was this simply a case of mistaken identity or was i...
King Ludvig II was wildly eccentric and in 1886 was declared insane and deposed from his throne. Just 3 days later his corpse, together with that of his physician, was found in a lake outside Munich. The official verdict was suicide but recent evidence suggests murder. So why has his body never b...
In 1483, Edward V, King of England aged 13 was deposed by his uncle,Richard III and soon afterwards disappeared from his heavily guarded royal lodgings in The Tower of London along with his 9 year old brother, Richard, Duke of Norfolk.
In Deptford, London in 1593, aged just 29, the brilliant but controversial young playwright, Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death. Was this simply a drunken brawl over a bill or did Queen Elizabeth I order his assassination over his subversive, atheistic behaviour?
In 1190, aged just 3, Arthur, Duke of Brittany was designated heir to the throne of England by his uncle, Richard I in preference to Richard's own brother John. Upon Richard's death, however, he named John his successor fearing that Arthur was too young to rule. Was Arthur's subsequent death John...
In July 1918, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was marched into a cellar and shot by a Bolshevik firing squad. His family, his wife, his son and his four daughters were executed with him.
However the mystery of Anastasia has remained. The youngest of his daughters is believed by some to have escaped a...
During World War II, Kenya's Happy Valley was a hedonistic hideaway for society's Royal and Aristocratic elite where casual sex, drug taking and general debauchery were common.
This is the true story of the life and mysterious murder of the most talked about and notorious member of the set; the 2...
The tower of London is an imposing stronghold that has been part of London's royal heritage for more than 1,000 years. It has changed roles, from fortress to palace to prison. If the stones of this mighty citadel could talk imagine what stories they could tell.
At the heart of the City of London lies the Tower of London. Within these stone walls lies another world: a dark past full of diabolical treachery and deadly ambition.
Discover the events that have taken place within the 1,000 year old Tower of London and the tragic and heroic characters that have passed through the gates and shaped the destiny of the United Kingdom.
