Willy Willy Harry Stee...

Once again, the 'Willy Willy' rhyme takes a back seat as Charlie Higson digs into the extraordinary life of Mary, Queen Of Scots. Crowned Queen at 18 months old, made Queen Consort of France before being widowed at 18, her 2nd husband was murdered, her 3rd was one of the murderers! Oh and then she was imprisoned for 20 years before being executed. No wonder so much has been written about her, incl...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain and Ned The Lad, Mary, Bessie...... It's part 2 of the story of Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth I and there's a lot to fit in. Plots, suitors, even an Armada and she survives them all. Joining Charlie Higson as he navigates her life...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain and Ned The Lad, Mary, Bessie...... Yes, in this episode, Charlie Higson uncovers the life of one of the best known of all the Monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I . And it's a long life, so long in fact that it requires 2 episodes to f...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain and Ned The Lad, Mary....... Welcome to our first official Queen as Charlie Higson uncovers the life of Mary I , who, as we saw last episode, quickly saw off Lady Jane Grey before equally quickly seeing off the protestant refor...

Willy Willy Harry Stee..........actually, we'll stop there for this episode. The lady in question was Queen, but only for 9 days and apart from a small apologetic addendum at the end of some versions of the rhyme, Lady Jane Grey doesn't get a mention. They say a week is a long time in politics. Well, it's nothing compared to 9 days in the Monarchy and as Charlie Higson discovers, her tale is a tra...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain and Ned The Lad Henry VIII's only legitimate son is crowned King at 9 years old and as Charlie Higson discovers, his should have been the perfect reign, but it will come as no surprise to find out that things didn't go accordin...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain....... Henry VIII gets a second episode in which Charlie Higson tells the story of Katherine, Anne, Jane, Anne, Catherine and Katherine. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Assisting him on this tumultuous voyage is the husband and wi...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain....... Yes, we usher in Henry VIII . He ate a lot. He spent a lot. He married a lot. If that's all you know about the most famous of all our Kings, then listen on as Charlie Higson uncovers Henry's life in the first part of a s...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five...Dick The Bad, Harry's Twain....... Yes, Charlie Higson's personal history of the Monarchy lands on Henry VII , the victor at the Battle Of Bosworth and our first Tudor King, and it turns out he was a pretty good one! Joining Charlie is this episodes 'Prop...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five... Dick The Bad! Yes, Charlie Higson lands on Richard III. Was he Dick The Bad or should we celebrate him as one of the good ones? Here to argue his case is the Chairman of the Richard the Third society, Matt Lewis. Also don't forget that Charlie's book of...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? Edward Four Five.... As he wades through the Wars Of The Roses, Charlie Higson reaches a king whose reign can be measured in days, Edward V. As one of the two Princes In The Tower along with his brother Richard Of Shrewsbury , Edward's life was short and tragic. In a depart...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........then who? King Edward IV that's who! The tale of bloody battles continues as Edward returns for a second stab at the crown as Charlie Higson makes sense of civil wars and the struggle for ultimate power. This episode's proper historian is James Hawes, author of The Shortest History O...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........   What happens when a King goes wrong? The story of  Henry VI  and his battles with  Edward IV  continues as  Charlie Higson  tells the story of one of history's biggest power struggles. And you thought the Roy family were bad!!   Plus we hear...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six......... The story of Henry VI is a tangled one, intertwined with Edward IV and, not something to be rushed. So over the next two episodes, Charlie Higson unpicks the story of a man who became king, then was deposed only to become king again, only to be deposed.....again! It's a fascinating...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five....... In this episode, Charlie Higson looks at the second-most famous Henry..... Henry V. As you'll hear, Henry was one tough bugger! Battle Of Agincourt? Easy! Arrow embedded in your face? 'Tis but a scratch! His reign was short but he got things done as you'll hear along with Charlie's proper...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three. One Two Three Neds, Richard II, Henry's Four........ yes, welcome to the next batch of Henry's, starting with Henry IV. Forget what Shakespeare said. In this episode, you'll hear Charlie Higson continue his voyage through history with a story of a King who lived fast and died young without really achieving much, while this episodes proper histor...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three. One Two Three Neds, Richard Two........ Charlie Higson's canter through the Monarchy takes us to Richard The 2nd . You'd think by now that they'd have got the hang of this whole King thing. What to do. What not to do. Well, they hadn't and Richard II is a good example of the 'What Not To Do' category. Charlie's proper historian this episode sees...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds..... Yes, its another chance to hear Charlie Higson reach the third of his Neds, Edward III and for once in our story he actually turned out to be a half decent king, or so it was thought at the time. Find out how he contended with fighting the Scots, the French and the Black Death. Charlie's proper historian this episode is H...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds..... So goes the rhyme Charlie Higson learnt at school, each a Monarch and each seemingly unable to learn any lessons from their predecessor, as ably demonstrated by this episode's King, Edward The 2nd. Find out how his disastrous relationships, especially with Piers Gaveston gave rise to his downfall at the hands of his own w...

In this episode Alice Loxton joins Charlie Higson to talk about her new book, ‘Eleanor’. In 1290, England mourned the death of a queen, Eleanor of Castile, beloved wife of King Edward I, the warrior king. Her body was carried on a 200-mile journey from Lincoln to London, a solemn procession that would become immortalized in stone. To mark the places where it laid, a heartbroken Edward commissioned...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three, One Two Three Neds.........Well in this episode Charlie Higson concerns himself with Ned No.1.. Edward The 1st, Edward Longshanks or The Hammer Of The Scots, although whilst he did a lot of hammering, the nails weren't really driven home very well. Charlie's 'Proper Historian' for this episode is the excellent Marc Morris , author of A Great...

In this BRAND NEW episode from Charlie Higson , he mixes History and Cartography to bring you the authors of a book that shows that a map might not be the honest, accurate and useful tool you once thought. Born on Youtube, T he Map Men has been an internet sensation and their new book 'This Way Up' is a funny and fascinating journey into the maps that messed up: big time! In this chat with Mark Co...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three......... Charlie Higson continues his canter through the Monarchy and along with Henry, comes Simon De Montfort. Was Henry weak and inept while Simon held the real power? We'll find out as Charlie welcomes this week's proper historian, Sophie Therese Ambler  author of a biography of Simon de Montfort called -  The Song of Simon de Mo...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John ......... Charlie Higson's romp through the middle ages lands on King John , who hasn't been fondly remembered. BUT...was he really that bad a King? Well, yes. He really was. In fact he was worse than we thought. Find out just how rubbish a monarch he was as Charlie digs into his hopeless life, together with this episode's proper historian, Professor Nick Vi...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick....... In this episode, Charlie Higson explores Richard I, or to give him his popular name Richard The Lionheart . Noble, considerate and fair.....according to Walt Disney, however Charlie digs a little deeper and finds a King of England who, well, wasn't in England very much. With guest proper historian, the excellent Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets &...