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Sunday Short Takes

A few of these stories were actually from over a week ago, but just now made it into the round-up!

* Greys Court ‘hidden’ buildings revealed by heatwave – The heatwave has revealed the site of former buildings at a 16th-Century mansion in Oxfordshire through severely parched areas of grass.

* Woking Palace fire started by arsonist – This is the third time the palace remains have been attacked by arson in two years.

* Assessment of Two Portraits Identified as Lady Jane Grey Dudley in the Collection at Syon House – From Dr. Stephan Edwards. An interesting read!

* The Mary Tudor Pearl will be unveiled to the public for the first time at Masterpiece London 2013

* The King’s Lost Bed on BBC4’s “Secret Knowledge” program – Historian and broadcaster Jonathan Foyle believes he has uncovered a remarkable piece of furniture – the marriage bed of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

And related to the above link:

* Henry VII bed to go on display at Auckland Castle

And finally –

* Video of the Mary Queen of Scots exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, from The Scotsman. (If the embedded video doesn’t work, here’s the link)

A Treasured Memory

Continuing on the August blog challenge…

This one was hard for me because I’m lucky to have a lot of treasured memories (in part because I have a sponge for a brain, so I just flat out have A LOT of memories). But I decided to choose one… well, a set of memories more precisely… that is related to the topic of the blog – my first trip to the UK (England and Wales only on that trip, Scotland came 2 years later). Since it was my first trip I crammed in as much as I could and tried to visit as many of the places that I *had* to see in case I never got back (since I didn’t know at the time that I would visit the UK two more times over the next five years). I don’t think I could single out just one memory from that trip because it was all so special for me. Really the same could be said for *all* my various trips outside of Texas – and some in Texas – but that first one to the UK is particularly treasured.

Five things about me you might not know

For today’s post for Natalie’s August blog challenge, I’m following her suggestion and posting 5 things about me that most people don’t know. And this is aimed at people who know me through Tudor history stuff… people who know me through other areas often don’t know about my Tudor history side. 🙂

* My degree is in astronomy and I still work in the field doing education and public outreach. (I think a lot of people probably do know this since I do mention it from time to time, but I thought I would include it for new folks who stumble on the site during the blog challenge.)

* I’m a native Texan and still a current resident – south Texas to Houston to Austin (since 1980), to be precise. I included this because I’m still getting emails and tweets from people who assume I’m in the UK. (I wish! August in Texas is one of my least favorite things.)

* I collect Pez dispensers. And I would LOVE to see them make a collector’s set of Henry VIII and the Wives. Although the heads flipping up on two of them might be a little too close to historical accuracy…

* My all-time favorite genre of music is movie and television scores. It started with “Star Wars” in 1977 when I was 5 years old and I’ve never looked back.

* I’m a pretty big sports fan, with my favorites being baseball, tennis, college football, and pretty much anything in the Olympics. I’m one of those people who will watch the wall-to-wall Olympic coverage when it’s on, regardless of what sport is on or the nationality of the athletes!

August blog challenge kick-off post!

Natalie at On the Tudor Trail issued a challenge on her personal blog to write a post every day in August and I’ve decided to take up that challenge! I’m going to do a mix of her suggested schedule and my own posts (in part because I already do a regular Wednesday and mostly-regular Sunday post) and because I want to use this as an opportunity to write about a few other things that I’ve been meaning to post for a while. I’m hoping this challenge will give me the kick it the rear-end that I need!

If you want to join in the challenge (granted, the first day of the month is already over for a lot of you!) see Natalie’s challenge post here and join in the fun!

Upcoming Books, Exhibitions, and Events for August 2013

Books

Leanda de Lisle’s latest work on the Tudors is out at the end of August in the UK and will be out in early October in the US. It’s titled Tudor: The Family Story in the UK and Tudor: Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family in the US.

Linda Porter has a new book out this month as well, this time about Mary Queen of Scots. The release date is August 15 in the UK and I have (so far) been unable to find info on a US release date.

And Fatal Rivalry, that I linked to last month, will be out in the US on August 26.

Events

The next Sudeley Castle Tudor Fun Day is on August 25th.

Continuing exhibitions

* Shakespeare and London, an exhibition by the London Metropolitan Archives, opened in May and will run through September 26, 2013. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 1613 deed signed by Shakespeare and is one of only six known examples of his signature. If you want to be sure to see that item, please check the website since it is only on display for some of the dates the exhibition runs.

* The exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion opened in May and runs through October 6. More information is available at the Royal Collection website, which also includes an online gallery of exhibition highlights and a TEDx talk by the exhibition curator.

* The National Museum of Scotland’s exhibition on Mary Queen of Scots opened on June 28 and will run through November 17.

Sunday Short Takes

We seem to be into the slow news part of the summer, but a few things of interest did show up last week.

I also want to mention that I’ve been moving some files around and (hopefully) updating all the internal links to reflect the new locations, but if you find a broken link please let me know. And I’ve been making some changes to the front page – I’ve removed a few things and moved a few other things around. It’s still a work in progress as I’m trying to consolidate some of the sections as part of a cunning plan (yes, I’ve been re-watching Blackadder recently, why do you ask?) 😉

And now, on to the news!

* Suzannah Lipscomb did a short film for the Chalke Valley History Hub on Why the Tudors Matter:

* Family Tree: From Henry VII to James VI and I – Neat interactive of the old painting from History Today. Also mentioned on the page is an upcoming article about Margaret Douglas by Leanda de Lisle in the August issue.

And speaking of Leanda de Lisle, her husband Peter has updated and re-launched his European Heraldry site. As an example of the great graphics on the site, the arms of Henry VII are included below (click for a larger view).

Upcoming Books, Exhibitions, and Events for July 2013

Books

As the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden approaches in September, a new book is being released on July 4th in the UK and in late August in the US. I have an advanced copy of Fatal Rivalry but unfortunately, like with so many books, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet! I might be able to get to it before the actual anniversary of the battle though. 🙂

And Elizabeth Norton has another Tudor book coming out – this time about the Boleyn Women. It is listed for the 28th of July in the UK and just July for the US (with a one to three month delivery, it might just be the UK copy sent over if you order from the US Amazon store.)

Events

The next Sudeley Castle Tudor Fun Day is on July 21st. These always look like fun – maybe I’ll get to visit during one some day!

Continuing exhibitions

Just two weeks left on this one:

The Victoria & Albert Museum‘s exhibition Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts, and the Russian Tsars is still on and runs through July 14, 2013.


Shakespeare and London, an exhibition by the London Metropolitan Archives, opened in May and will run through September 26, 2013. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 1613 deed signed by Shakespeare and is one of only six known examples of his signature. If you want to be sure to see that item, please check the website since it is only on display for some of the dates the exhibition runs.


The exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion opened in May and runs through October 6. More information is available at the Royal Collection website, which also includes an online gallery of exhibition highlights and a TEDx talk by the exhibition curator.


The National Museum of Scotland’s exhibition on Mary Queen of Scots opened on June 28 and will run through November 17.

Sunday Short Takes

A couple of stories related to the Mary Queen of Scots exhibition that opened last Friday:

* Mary, Queen of Scots modelled in 3D – The face of Mary, Queen of Scots has been recreated in 3D by a team of experts from the University of Dundee.

* In pictures: Mary, Queen of Scots

And it’s been a while, but this week we have three entries in the “What would I buy if I won the lottery?” series:

* Elizabethan Manor House Near Cambridge

* Is this the most perfect house in Britain? Colourful history revealed of timber-framed country pile worth

Picture of the Week #234

Another section of Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick. Photo May 1998.

This is the third of my photos of Lord Leycester Hospital since I couldn’t get it all into one picture. I posted it this week in honor of the birthday of its namesake Robert Dudley, born on June 24th.

You can see the other two parts here and here.

Sunday Short Takes

Just a few things this week!

* Sheffield Crypt Mystery: Shrewsbury Vault Rediscovered, But Where Are the Bodies? – This was the most interesting story to come up last week. You can see more photos of it at this story: Mystery of the missing coffins: Who stole the remains of FIFTEEN members of aristocratic family from cathedral tomb?

* Mary Rose Welsh archer face reconstructed by Swansea experts

* Mary Queen of Scots gallery – From the BBC History Extra website, featuring items from the upcoming Mary Queen of Scots exhibition I mentioned in the last events round-up

* Anna Whitelock explores the contradictions of the Virgin Queen’s private life – podcast from BBC History Extra, recorded at their Tudor Day event in Bristol a few months ago

* Time Traveller’s Guide To Elizabethan England Episode 3 – On YouTube (the only one I could find for the third episode was in four parts; the link goes to part 1)

Sunday Short Takes


The Phoenix Portrait of Elizabeth I, by Nicholas Hilliard. At NPG London.

Just a few stories this week, especially compared to the last couple of weeks!

* Tudor portraits to be restored at National Portrait Gallery – The images in this article are wrong, both show one of the versions of the Armada Portrait, but the description is of The Phoenix portrait which I would be very interested to see with the yellowed varnish cleaned up. I’ve put an image of the Phoenix portrait at top.

* Chris Skidmore discussed the Battle of Bosworth (subject of his new book that I now have in my hot little hands!) on the BBC History Extra podcast. Look for the June 6th episode.

* The Royal Collection asks – Who is the Man in Red?

And finally…

More people have taken pity on those of us outside the UK and have put the latest programs of the BBC2 Tudor Court Season up on YouTube:

* The Most Dangerous Man In Tudor England

* The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England Episode 2 – The Rich