Kirjahaku

Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots covers the lives and careers of the men and women who 'kept' Mary Queen of Scots whilst she was a political prisoner in England, circa 1568 -1587. Mary's troubled claim to the English throne - much to the consternation of her 'dear cousin' Elizabeth I - made her a mortal enemy of the aforementioned Virgin Queen and set them on a collision course from which only one would survive. Mary's calamitous personal life, encompassing assassinations, kidnaps and abdications, sent her careering into England and right into the lap of Henry VIII's shrewd but insecure daughter. Having no choice but to keep Mary under lock and key, Elizabeth trusted this onerous task to some of the most capable - not to mention the richest - men and women in England; Sir Francis Knollys, Rafe Sadler (of Wolf Hall fame), the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess of Hardwick, and finally, the puritanical nit-picker Sir Amyas Paulet. Until now, these nobles have been mere bit-players in Mary's story; now, their own lives, loves and fortunes are laid bare for all to see. From Carlisle Castle to Fotheringhay, these loyal subjects all but bankrupted themselves in keeping the deposed Scots queen in the style to which she was accustomed, whilst fending off countless escape plots of which Mary herself was often the author. With the sort of twist that history excels at, it was actually a honeytrap escape plot set up by Elizabeth's ministers that finally saw Mary brought to the executioner's block, but what of the lives of the gaolers who acted as her guardian? This book explains how Shrewsbury and Bess saw their marriage wrecked by Mary's legendary charms, and how Paulet ended up making a guest appearance on 'Most Haunted', some several hundred years after his death. In that theme, the book also covers the appearances of these men and women on film and TV, in novels and also the various other Mary-related media that keeps the legend of this most misunderstood of monarchs so perfectly simmering.

Gruesome but not gratuitous, this decidedly darker take on the Tudors, from 1485 to 1603, covers some forty-five events' from the Tudor reign, taking in everything from the death of Richard III to the botched execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and a whole host of horrors in between. Particular attention is paid to the various gruesome ways in which the Tudors despatched their various villains and lawbreakers, from simple beheadings, to burnings and of course the dreaded hanging, drawing and quartering. Other chapters cover the various diseases prevalent during Tudor times, including the dreaded Sweating Sickness' -rather topical at the moment, unfortunately -as well as the cures for these sicknesses, some of which were considered worse than the actual disease itself. The day-to-day living conditions of the general populace are also examined, as well as various social taboos and the punishments that accompanied them, i.e. the stocks, as well as punishment by exile. Tudor England was not a nice place to live by 21st century standards, but the book will also serve to explain how it was still nevertheless a familiar home to our ancestors.

Gruesome but not gratuitous, this decidedly darker take on the Tudors, from 1485 to 1603, covers some forty-five ‘events’ from the Tudor reign, taking in everything from the death of Richard III to the botched execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and a whole host of horrors in between. Particular attention is paid to the various gruesome ways in which the Tudors despatched their various villains and lawbreakers, from simple beheadings, to burnings and of course the dreaded hanging, drawing and quartering. Other chapters cover the various diseases prevalent during Tudor times, including the dreaded ‘Sweating Sickness’ – rather topical at the moment, unfortunately – as well as the cures for these sicknesses, some of which were considered worse than the actual disease itself. The day-to-day living conditions of the general populace are also examined, as well as various social taboos and the punishments that accompanied them, i.e. the stocks, as well as punishment by exile. Tudor England was not a nice place to live by 21st century standards, but the book will also serve to explain how it was still nevertheless a familiar home to our ancestors.

Although many books cover the lives of Russia’s last royal family in some considerable detail, their time spent under house arrest in their own domestic family home - the Alexander Palace, outside St. Petersburg - is often covered in a few scant pages, or a chapter at most. But when set against the Revolution and the abdication of the Tsar, these few months from February to August 1917 take on tremendous significance and deserve to be studied in some detail, as events spiralled out of control and the Romanovs found themselves virtual prisoners in their own palace. Worse still, with the aforementioned Tsar - Nicholas II - away and ensconced in the vicissitudes of World War One, it was left to his wife Alexandra - favourite granddaughter of Queen Victoria - to commandeer a household increasingly under siege, whilst simultaneously caring for a haemophiliac son and four daughters laid low by life-threatening measles. Alexandra’s boast that she was the one who ‘wore the trousers’ is thus put to the test in the hardiest of scenarios, as she found herself forced both to bolster a flagging palace garrison against the possibility of attack by bloodthirsty insurgents, whilst attempting to hold together a domestic staff increasingly fearful for their own lives in the face of mob retribution. Meanwhile, the German High Command set about releasing a veritable human bacillus - Lenin himself - back toward his native Russia, in a novel attempt to destabilise the Russian war machine further still. Not simply a blow-by-blow account of the daily lives of a monarchy defiled, this book runs in tandem with the Russian Revolution as it surges out from Petrograd and toward the idyllic suburbs that the Romanovs called their home … without Rasputin to rally them, who can save the dynasty now?!

RASPUTIN'S RELATIONSHIP with Russia's last Tsarina, Alexandra, notorious from the famous Boney M song, has never been adequately addressed; biographies are always for one or the other, or simply Alexandra and her husband Nicholas. In this new work, Mickey Mayhew reimagines Alexandra for the #MeToo generation; 'neurotic'; 'hysterical'; 'credulous' and 'fanatical' are shunted aside in favour of a sympathetic reimagining of a reserved and pious woman tossed into the heart of Russian aristocracy, with the sole purpose of providing their patriarchal monarchy with an heir. When her longed-for son then developed haemophilia, she turned to the one man capable of curing the child's agonising pain - Grigory Rasputin. Some say that between them, Grigory and Alexandra brought down 300 years of Romanov rule and ushered in the Russian Revolution, but theirs was simply the story of a mother fighting for the health of her son against a backdrop of bigotry, sexism and increasing secularism. She liked to pray and he liked to party, but when they found themselves steering Russia through the First World War, her gender and his class gave society no option but to destroy them. Bubbling with his trademark bon mots, Mickey Mayhew's latest book breathes fresh life into two of history's most fascinating - and polarising - figures. This is the real story of Rasputin and his Russian Queen.

Anne Boleyn sells, but she sells in segments; a biography here, a study over there on her guilt and something else yonder concerned with where she lived or what she liked to wear. This book, covering not just her life but her life onscreen, in theatre, on TV and also the impact of the first black actress to play her, is the definitive, all-encompassing story of Anne Boleyn from 1501 (or thereabouts) to 2023. Having examined the ardent fandom of Anne Boleyn for his doctorate, Dr Mickey Mayhew is in a unique position to offer something new to say on this much-discussed 'tragic' Tudor queen and is not afraid to tackle some of the less palatable aspects of her life. Also, this book is the first to examine with authenticity the reality of Anne's relationship with the most important man in her life, the man whose name she repeated in comfort whilst facing the Swordsman of Calais on the scaffold, having spent her life promulgating his doctrine; Jesus Christ himself. As for the aforementioned executioner, Dr Mayhew's research in Calais and Saint-Omer can now lift a lid on a few of the particulars of this elusive and yet essential figure of Anne Boleyn mythos; and yes, now he even has a name as well. The Anne Boleyn Bible also offers a straightforward retelling of Anne's actual historical life, albeit one that outlines an entirely fresh and empowering perspective on her rise to prominence; this is followed by a series of considered arguments on the 'for' and 'against' in regard to her guilt & execution; then her entry into popular culture, firstly in plays and masques, before she went on to headline movies, TV series, cosplay, and now, with the first black woman to portray her, model and actress Jodie Turner-Smith. This book is simply what it says on the cover - The Anne Boleyn Bible - leaving no depiction, no religious aspect, no appearance in popular culture, from The Simpsons to the West End musical 'Six', overlooked; likewise, Dr Mayhew also turns his trademark brand of rather wry commentary toward the vast plethora of Anne Boleyn merchandising, tourist spots, rubber ducks, beanies and the wrangling question of who was the ultimate onscreen Anne; Genevieve Bujold or Natalie Dormer?!

A West End girl who lusted after East End barrow boys, the debutante nicknamed 'Minty Hardcore' is - long after being forced into a rather rigorous local convent - now just another East End legend, alongside the Krays and Jack the Ripper.Meanwhile, Jack Woodfield, Barking barrow boy turned bourgeois beefcake, is desperate to ditch West Ham United, the Lintons estate, and especially his belligerent baby brother Jamie. It's time for Jack to take his savvy to the City; no more legends about being baptised in a 'testosterone spring'; of past uncles and their paranormal romances; of 'entities from Essex' and 'doomed debutantes'; pure rot, as far as Jack is concerned. He wants to make himself into the modern, metrosexual man his mum would be so proud of. In fact, you might say that Jack Woodfield has it sorted; he's got brains, brawn, and sightly bulges. He's a modern man with a lad's legacy that's best left behind, and that also includes his carousing cousin, Hayden 'the lad' Woodfield. But over Jack's shoulder lurks the frisky phantom who has Hayden in her clutches, and whose paranormal passion for burly barrow boys might well screw up Jack's prospects for promotion and a cosmopolitan, carefree existence rather royally...

Jack Woodfield had it all; brains, brawn, and sightly bulges. But this modern, vaguely metrosexual man hails from a long line of hunky barrow boys who pawned their principles in exchange for the perfect six-pack, selling their souls to the family's mysterious familiar in the process. Despite this Jack had ditched West Ham United, Barking market, and especially his belligerent brother Jamie; any gossip about ancient uncles and their paranormal paramours was cobblers as far as Jack was concerned.But over Jack's shoulder lurked his hell-raising cousin, Hayden 'the lad' Woodfield, the willing slave of that mysterious familiar, Minty Hardcore; her predilection for rough trade seems set to screw up Jack's prospects for promotion and a cosmopolitan, politically correct life rather royally... And now the worst has happened. Back in Barking something has taken posh totty Tiffany Grieve, Jamie's girlfriend, and taken her in the worst possible way, flinging her headlong into Jack's arms. Jamie has fled, betrayed by brother and girlfriend both. Even their Aunt Amanda, former tarot reader to Ronnie Kray, has been removed from the board, her Bethnal Green home abandoned and empty. So too have Jack's friends from the LSE fled, knowing perhaps more about matters than they ought. 'Taking Tiffany' continues the story started in 'Jack and the Lad', spanning the sordid underbelly of high society's debutante culture in the 18th century, the tyranny of the Kray Twins in swinging 60s Bethnal Green, before slamming on the brakes to explode in present-day Barking and the City of London's Square Mile.

Mary Queen of Scots is perhaps one of the most controversial and divisive monarchs in regal history. Her story reads like a particularly spicy novel, with murder, kidnap, adultery, assassination and execution. To some she is one of the most wronged women in history, a pawn used and abused by her family in the great monarchical marriage game; to others, a murderous adulteress who committed regicide to marry her lover and then spent years in captivity for the crime, endlessly plotting the demise of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.This book covers the breathtaking scope of her amazing life and examines the immense cultural legacy she left behind, from the Schiller play of the 1800s to The CW teen drama Reign. Temptress, terrorist, or tragic queen, this book will give you the lowdown on one of history’s most misunderstood monarchs.

Henry VII’s father died in prison before he was born.Henry VIII was too fat to walk down the stairs.Mary Queen of Scots was almost killed by an earthquake at Sheffield Castle.Elizabeth I wore poisonous makeup. This fun little book, containing 400 fantastic facts about the Tudor era and more than 100 illustrations, will delight Tudor fans everywhere!