The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 was ground-breaking in the UK and Politics, Society and Homosexuality in Post-War Britain: The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 and its Significance marks the fiftieth anniversary of its successful path to the statute book.The act was not without controversy and was fiercely fought over by the likes of Mary Whitehouse and right-wing reactionary Tories who in typical style fought to impose their narrow-minded blue-rinse views. Now...

No English king has suffered wider fluctuations of reputation than Richard III, perhaps the most controversial ruler England has ever had. Vilified by critics as a ruthless master of intrigue and a callous murderer, he has been no less extravagantly praised by defenders of his reputation against Tudor and Shakespearian charges of tyranny. Richard III: From Contemporary Chronicles, Letters and Records, by its presentation of contemporary and near contemporary sources, enables the reader to ...

For historians of the Wars of the Roses William Shakespeare is both a curse and a blessing: a curse because he immortalized Tudor spin on fifteenth-century civil wars that helped justify Elizabeth I's occupation of the English throne; a blessing because, without Shakespeare's 8 -play Plantagenet history cycle, hardly anyone beyond specialists in the history of the period would know of their existence. Moreover, no mere historian will ever paint a more compelling and dramatic picture of Eng...

Henry VI (1422-61), a man 'more given to God and devout prayer than handling worldly and temporal things', was the third, and least successful, Lancastrian king of England; his wife Margaret of Anjou, 'a great and strong laboured woman', became a formidable political force in her own right; and the Wars of the Roses, so dramatically portrayed by William Shakespeare as bloody dynastic struggles fought for the possession of the crown, brought the usurpation of Edward IV (1461-83), the humili...

No English king is more famous-or infamous! than Henry VIII, popularly celebrated as the formidable and arrogant figure portrayed by Hans Holbein the Younger, the early Tudor stud who clocked up no fewer than six wives and the proto-nationalist/imperialist ruler who sent the pope packing and inaugurated the English Reformation. As befits such a colossus, masses has been written about the king, not only by contemporary and near-contemporary commentators, even William Shakespeare, but also p...

The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most fascinating murder mysteries in English history. It is a tale with profound moral and social consequences, rich in drama, intrigue, treason, scandal and violence. In this gripping book Alison Weir re-examines all the evidence - including that against the Princes' uncle, Richard III. She brilliantly reconstructs the whole chain of events leading to th...

THE CAPTIVATING TRUE STORY OF THE MAN WHO INSPIRED WOLF HALL, MASTERFULLY TOLD: NOW REVISED WITH A NEW CHAPTERKnown widely as Henry VIII's 'right-hand man', Cromwell has captured imaginations throughout the centuries: but who was he really? In this major new biography, leading historian Tracy Borman examines the life, loves and legacy of the man who changed the shape of England forever.Born a lowly tavern keeper's son, Cro...

Elizabeth Woodville is undoubtedly a historical character whose life no novelist would ever have dared invent. She has been portrayed as an enchantress; as an unprincipled advancer of her family's fortunes and a plucky but pitiful queen in Shakespeare's histories. She has been alternatively championed and vilified by her contemporaries and five centuries of historians, dramatists and novelists, but what was she really like? In this revealing account of Elizabeth's life David Baldwin sets o...

In "William the Conqueror," Jacob Abbott masterfully chronicles the life of one of history's most formidable figures, exploring the complexities of his character and the monumental impact of his reign. The narrative intertwines vivid historical accounts with Abbott's accessible prose, making the text both engaging and educational. Abbott delves into William's ascent from the Duke of Normandy to the King of England, emphasizing the sociopolitical context of the 11th century, the intricacies...

Peter Ackroyd, one of Britain's most acclaimed writers, brings the age of the Tudors to vivid life in this monumental book in his The History of England series, charting the course of English history from Henry VIII's cataclysmic break with Rome to the epic rule of Elizabeth I.Rich in detail and atmosphere, Peter Ackroyd's Tudors is the story of Henry VIII's relentless pursuit of both the perfect wife and the perfect heir; of how the brief reign of the teenage king, Edward...

Peter Ackroyd has been praised as one of the greatest living chroniclers of Britain and its people. In Rebellion, he continues his dazzling account of the history of England, beginning with the progress south of the Scottish king, James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ending with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson, James II.The Stuart monarchy brought together the two nations of England and Scotland into on...

Elizabeth I is perhaps England's most famous monarch. Born in 1533, the product of the doomed marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was heir to her father's title, then disinherited and finally imprisoned her half sister Mary. But in 1558, on Mary's death, she ascended the throne and reigned for forty-five years. Respected by her subjects and idolised by future generations, Gloriana's fierce devotion to her country and its people truly make her England's fairest queen and icon....