Willy Willy Harry Stee...

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, Charlie Higson reaches 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 Helen Carr, author of the...

In a special side edition of Willy Willy Harry Stee , Charlie Higson chats with the excellent Ian Mortimer author of The Time Travellers Guide To Medieval England. As Charlie navigates the Medieval Monarchs, this episode asks the question, what was life really like in The Middle Ages for ordinary folk? Were Monty Python right all along? Well, no. It's a tale of medical ingenuity, religion and butt...

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...

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 &...

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 &...

Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry......yes, Charlie Higson reaches Monarch number 5 in the shape of Henry II , a man who fought and married his way to the top only for his wife and sons to rebel against him and start a revolt. What would you do? Well in this episode you'll find out exactly what Henry II did and how he did it. Helen Castor , author of 'She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Eli...

The saga continues as Charlie Higson brings you the story of Stephen & Matilda. When Henry I died, the crown should have fallen to his daughter, the Empress Matilda . BUT Stephen of Blois got there first to claim the crown and together with his wife, a different Matilda, Matilda of Boulogne .....it all went horribly wrong as you'll hear. Charlie's proper historian guest is Cath Hanley author o...

Imagine you have two brothers. One of them is King of England, the other two want to be. What would YOU do? Well how about this. You have the brother who is King killed in a convenient hunting accident, then lock the other one up for the rest of his life. Farfetched? Then listen on as Charlie Higson continues his personal history of the extraordinary story of the Monarchs of England, assisted by t...

In this episode, Charlie Higson continues his voyage through the rhyme of 'Willy Willy Harry Stee', stopping at the second Willy, King William the 2nd otherwise known as William Rufus. This week's proper expert is James Hawes , author of the smash hit ' The Shortest History of England ’, who’s been in the bestseller charts as both a crime novelist and a popular historian. In this episode, find out...

And so, after 2 episodes, 4500 years and a great deal of frankly unpronounceable Anglo Saxon Kings, Charlie finally gets to his first Willy. William the Conqueror , otherwise known as William the Bastard. The question is WHY was he known as this? The answer is.....well, Charlie will explain along with this weeks proper historian, Judith Green . Subscribe or Follow as there's a new King or Queen to...

Charlie continues his pre-history of the Monarchy with a quick blast through the 400 years prior to William The Conqueror. Yes, it's those crazy Anglo-Saxons and in this episode we get to know them a little better thanks to Charlie's proper historian guest and all-round Anglo-Saxon expert, Marc Morris. And yes, he will be asking the question we all ask at one point in our lives....Was Alfred so Gr...

Willy Willy Harry Stee is Charlie Higson's guide to the monarchy, all based on a rhyme he learned at school which, helpfully, gave an easy way to remember the names of every King & Queen of England. Unhelpfully it didn't teach you anything else about them, something this weekly podcast will help rectify. In this first episode, Charlie, who you may know as creator of and actor in The Fast Show...

This has been in Charlie Higson's head since the 1960's..... Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three, One, Two, Three Ned's, Richard Two, Henry Four, Five, Six, then who? Edward Four, Five, Dick the Bad, Harrys twain and Ned, the lad. Mary, Bessie, James the Vain, Charlie, Charlie, James again. William and Mary, Anne o'Gloria, Four Georges, William and Victoria. Edward, George...