Rex Factor

After a succession of short and unsuccessful reigns, Constantine II's reign would be crucial in the formation of the Scottish nation. Coming to the throne in 900, his intray included a country still divided by internal strife, facing invasion from the Viking grandsons of Ivar the Boneless while to the south the new country of England was growing under Edward the Elder and then, most ominously, Ath...

After the Alpin dynasty was sent packing by Giric and/or Eochaid, it came roaring back in 889 with Donald II, winning back the throne after a decade in Irish exile. However, it's one thing to defeat Giric but there are still the tricky issue of Vikings on the horizon - could Donald finally see off the Scandinavian party poopers or would yet another Scottish king be laid low before his time? Hosted...

After the memorably unmemorable reign of Aed (#RememberAed) came to an end in 878, things get rather uncertain in Scotland. So, this week we review Giric...or Eochaid...or is it Giric AND Eochaid? Who is really wearing the crown and will they deserve the Rex Factor? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The year 877 was not an easy time for Aed to come to the throne. After a decade of Viking raids, Aed's brother, Constantine I, had been killed and the kingdom was in a precarious position. It would take a strong and skillful ruler to overcome such difficulties, but is Aed that man? #RememberAed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit pod...

It's Vikings o'clock in this episode, with saga legends like Olaf the White, Ivar the Boneless and the Sons of Ragnar swarming across Britain. The Great Heathen Army of the 860s-70s has its mind on conquest and the action is ceaseless across Ireland, England and Scotland. Battles are fought, kings are slain, kingdoms fall and everything is in flux. Constantine has his own particular strategy but w...

After Kenneth MacAlpin started a new, Scottish dynasty in wake of a Pictish defeat to the Vikings, it was left to his brother, Donald I, to carry on where he left off. Donald seems largely to have done this but sadly the annals of history have not found an awful lot to say about him but nevertheless a few key questions do arise. Who was his mother? What's going on in Dalriata? And, perhaps most pr...

The new series starts properly in this episode as review our first monarch, Kenneth MacAlpin. After the leading Picts were wiped out by the Vikings in 839, Kenneth emerged from the murky past to take the throne of both the Picts and the Scots. But Kenneth is a man of mystery: where did he come from? How did he take the throne? What happened to the Picts? And why does he smell of fish? But most imp...

Rex Factor is back! After reviewing all the monarchs of England, now we turn our attention to Scotland. Before we get onto the kings and queens, however, we provide some background to the history of Scotland: stone houses, Hadrian's Wall, Vikings, Saint Columba and the Loch Ness Monster - and much more besides! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad c...

In the second part of our question and answers podcast, we continue to answer the questions sent in to us by the audience. Next time, we'll be back with a new series on the kings and queens of Scotland from Kenneth MacAlpin to James VI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While we get ourselves prepared for the new series of Rex Factor (the Kings and Queens of Scotland), we invited you to send in any questions you have about us, the podcast, or history in general. We wanted to get through as many questions as possible and had great fun answering them, so rather than editing the episode down we decided to split it in half, so this is the first part of the Q&A podcas...

Rex Factor will soon be returning for a new series reviewing all the Kings and Queens of Scotland but before we start the new series, we're going to have a Question and Answers podcast to bridge the gap. This is your chance to ask us any questions you might have had while listening to the podcast: specific questions about a king or queen, other characters or events you have enjoyed, questions abou...

So, after four years we have finally reached the conclusion. The votes have all been counted, the results are in. We have reviewed all the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II and you have voted for who you want to win. In today's episode, we reveal your favourite dynasty, our plans for the future and, of course, the Rex Factor Champion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

After four years reviewing all the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II we have reached the end - the Grand Final. The three contenders for the Rex Factor crown are Alfred the Great (the founding father), Henry II (the Plantagenet top seed) and Elizabeth I (the iconic Tudor queen). In this episode, we compare them across all the factors but the winner will be determine...

We're almost at the end - the Semi-Finals feature 9 of the 18 Rex Factor winning monarchs but after this just three will make it through to the Grand Final. Listen now to find out who is still standing, with sword held aloft, on the Rex Factor mountain... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the third and final semi-final, our very first monarch, Alfred the Great, is up against the two Edwards - grandfather and grandson, Edward I and Edward III. But who deserves a place in the final? Will it be Alfred for saving Anglo-Saxon England from the Vikings? Edward I for conquering Wales with his magnificent castles and his reforms to the law and Parliament? Or Edward III for the Arthurian...

Semi-Final B sees a fascinating mix of characters: the pious, all-conquering Saxon and first king of all England, Athelstan; the relentless, zealous, French-conquering hero of Agincourt, Henry V, and the vibrant splendour of a Tudor golden age in Elizabeth I. Only one can go through to the Grand Final, so make sure you vote for your favourite in the link below: Survey Link Hosted on Acast. See aca...

Things are hotting up now in the play-offs as we move on to the semi-finals. Semi-Final A is a real humdinger, with the top scoring monarch in Henry II up against two of the most iconic figures in Henry VIII and Queen Victoria. This time only one will progress into the Grand Final, so make sure you vote for your favourite monarch in the link below! Survey Link Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Things get real in the play-offs as 9 of the 18 Rex Factor winners are eliminated from the competition. The results are revealed for Groups A, B and C in the first round - the scores from Ali, Graham and the combined votes of the public at large will be put together and the top three in each group will go through to the semi-finals. For more about the play-offs, check out our blog: http://rexfacto...

In the last of the first round ties, Group C is a fascinating battle between medieval (William the Conqueror, Edward III & Henry V) vs. the modern (William IV, Victoria & George V). William conquered England after the Battle of Hastings, while Edward III & Henry V enjoyed military glories against France in the Hundred Years war. William IV saw the beginnings of a constitutional monarchy, helping t...

Group B is a heavyweight affair of empires and conquerors. Cnut, a Viking, is one of a very small number of leaders to have conquered England, as well as presiding over a North Sea Empire, Henry II established the Angevin Empire (England and the 'left' of France), while Richard the Lionheart set his sights on Jerusalem and Edward I on Wales. Elizabeth I did not conquer but she presided over a gold...

So the play-offs finally begin. There are three rounds and in the opening round we have three groups of six, which for Group A consists of Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Henry I, Edward IV, Henry VIII & Charles II. In this episode, we look at all the monarchs together, factor by factor, and debate who should come out on top. But who goes through will be determined by voting, so once you've listened...

After 67 episodes, three and a half years and numerous broken bones (all belonging to Ali) we have reviewed all the Kings and Queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II. We were left with 18 monarchs standing tall and proud atop the Rex Factor mountain but no mountain is big enough for England's greatest monarchs so we are going to decide who is the greatest of them all. In this episo...

After three years we finally complete the journey "From Alfred the Great to Elizabeth the Second" as in this episode we review the reign of Elizabeth II. Given that the Queen is still reigning, these are effectively provisional scores as we don't yet have sufficient perspective on how certain events will be viewed in 30 years time, nor the full knowledge of what the Queen's role has been in the af...

The Queen was just 27 years old when she was crowned in 1953 and in this episode we look at her life and reign from 1953 to the present day - history becomes the present! This episode takes us from the glitz and glamour of the 1950s and her tour of the Commonwealth, through the scandals and disasters of the royal family in the 1980s and 1990s to the hugely successful Diamond Jubilee of 2012. Hoste...

From Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II - as Rex Factor's journey through the monarchs of England reaches its close, we finally come to THE Queen! In the first of three episodes, we examine the biography of Princess Elizabeth up to and including her coronation in 1953. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices