Happy New Year all! This month is history on film month, because I have decreed it, and what better way to start than looking at the most filmed British monarch; Elizabeth I. Here is a selection of the more modern filmic depictions of Gloriana (and one early one) and whether they are worth a watch.
A rather late review considering I read and finished the book within twenty-four hours of its release. I wish that I could say that was because it was such a compelling read. Unfortunately I just wanted to get it out of the way. The Cousin’s War started as one of the more entertaining series I… Read More The White Princess
I’ve come to the opinion that Tesco have a lot to answer for. Three books for five pounds they said. You’ll need to read something on a five hour train journey they said. Look! We’ve got historical fiction they said. I bought The People’s Queen by Vanora Bennett in the same offer that saw me… Read More Fictionalising Historical Characters: The People’s Queen
Recently I watched The Last Days of Anne Boleyn, part of the BBC Tudor season. It is a documentary but also a debate between historians and authors of historical fiction, trying to piece together what happened to cause Anne Boleyn’s downfall and the events of her last days. While looking at the hows, whys and… Read More Sidelining Jane Seymour
Having settled down for the evening with some toffee popcorn and a bottle of coke to watch All Star Superman, I suddenly remembered The White Queen was showing on BBC one and so hastened to find a different television, abandoning the popcorn in the process. To be honest, I was not expecting much. The BBC… Read More The White Queen
Titanic is an interesting piece of fiction to consider. Director James Cameron is hailed as a ‘hugely respected Titanic expert’. The film itself was, at the time, heralded as one of the most historically accurate versions of the ship ever to be put on the big screen, yet despite this, it is riddled with glaring… Read More Fact & Fiction: Titanic (1997)
During the medieval/early modern period (and many others but I’m working to a deadline here), a woman was defined by her marital status. As an adolescent, she was unmarried and therefore a virgin. As an adult, she’d marry and would either die a wife or survive a widow. The sex lives, imagined or real, of… Read More Fiction, Feminism and Marriage
