Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant
Ch4, 1/4 Prince Monday 06 April, 9:00pm - 10:00pm Dr David Starkey, TV's most captivating expert on all things Tudor, turns his attention to Henry VIII. It's framed as a "search for the real Henry", the kind of line that suggests every previous historian has missed the point, but in effect the challenge is to reconcile two Henrys - the dashing young scholar-prince and the bloated tyrant he became. If anyone can do it Starkey can. He has a faintly Wodehousian air, with his tweed suits and tortoiseshell glasses, but he knows how to enthral, combining a feeling for ancient documents written in spidery Latin with a modern taste for psychological insight ("Was the motherless teenager lonely?" he wonders out loud). He cuts to the chase brilliantly when it comes to the personalities. I loved his description of Henry's father, the fiscally extortionate Henry VII, as like "a spider at the heart of a golden web of power". And his explanation of the dynastic power politics of the time is masterly.
radiotimes
