The White Queen

Right from the start of the series, there has been carping about the historical inaccuracies (”bricks weren't invented then” “clothes weren't as white”): but these ignore the fact that for some people, and I count myself as one, the series has been a spur to be interested in history.

My history teaching at school got me an A grade at O Level: but nothing else. It was pure fact memorisation, for me no concepts, linking, analysis. Maybe I missed such aspects.

Picking a photo not entirely at random from a recent episode:

(When Elizabeth Woodville came to Edward IV, who was staring at his chess set, Edward's concentration on the game was broken. It's a good job Jane knows better than to interrupt me when I am playing blitz on ICC or Playchess).

The topic has been the subject of some readers' letters to the Telegraph. I side with the majority, such as Michael Cattell's:

On holiday, to help piece together who-is-whom, who-bedded-whom, who-beheaded-whom, and so on, I spent a happy few hours creating their family tree. (H/t to Jane, who helped somewhat: she would say a lot).

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