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In Search Of The Dark Ages
''In Search of the Dark Ages'' is a BBC television documentary series, written and presented by historian Michael Wood, first shown between 1979 and 1981. It comprises eight short films across two series, each focusing on a particular character from the history of England prior to the Norman Conquest, a period popularly known as the Dark Ages. It is also the title of a book written by Wood to support the series, that was first published in 1981. Overview The series was made by BBC Manchester and narrated by Wood, who was at that time a lecturer (and, eventually, Professor of History) at Manchester University. It consists of eight separate programmes, and the collective title is often written as ''In Search of... The Dark Ages'' (originally it was known simply as ''In Search of...''). Each programme, except the finale, ran between 35 and 45 minutes. It began with a one-off pilot programme called ''In Search of Offa'', filmed in 1978, and first broadcast in January 1979. When its ...
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Roger Laughton
Roger Froome Laughton CBE FRTS (born 19 May 1942) is a BAFTA-winning television producer and former Chief Executive of Meridian Television. Laughton attended the state boys' grammar school King Edward VII School, Sheffield (KES). He studied at Merton College, Oxford, gaining a degree in History in 1963, and a DipEd from the Institute of Education in Oxford the following year. He was a television producer for the BBC from 1965–90, working on programmes such as Michael Wood's ''In Search of the Dark Ages'' and '' Great Railway Journeys of the World''. On 27 October 1986 he launched the BBC Daytime service. In November 2006, he produced the ''Laughton Report'', which found that the local BBC television services were disruptive to local newspapers, but employed fewer journalists. From 1991-96, he was the Chief Executive of Meridian Broadcasting (now ITV Meridian). He received the CBE in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to regional broadcasting. He became a Fellow of the Ro ...
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Sutton Walls Hill Fort
Sutton Walls Hillfort is an elongated ovoid Iron Age Hill fort located four miles north of the city of Hereford, England. It was added to the Sites and Monuments Record in 1988. History The Sutton Walls hillfort dates back to the Iron Age. By 100 BC defenses began to be constructed in the form of a V shaped ditch and an internal bank. The ditch and groundwork were then reinforced by revetting the banks with timber and stone. The reason for such work being done was because a larger community was establishing itself on top of the fort. The people in the settlement lived in wood and stone huts which were situated within the newly constructed defenses. These very defenses were strengthened around the year 25 AD, in the form of a large wooden perimeter wall enclosing the settlement atop the fort. Archaeological digs have revealed that in around 48 AD, Sutton Walls was attacked by the Romans under the leadership of Ostorius Scapula and 24 of its inhabitants were slain and their bodi ...
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Boudica
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence. Boudica's husband Prasutagus, with whom she had two daughters, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome. He left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor in his will. When he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped. The historian Cassius Dio wrote that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopher Seneca called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant Britons. In 60/61, Boudica led the Iceni and other British tribes in revolt ...
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Boadicea And Her Daughters
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence. Boudica's husband Prasutagus, with whom she had two daughters, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome. He left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor in his Will and testament, will. When he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Boudica was Flagellation, flogged and her daughters wartime sexual violence, raped. The historian Cassius Dio wrote that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopher Seneca the Younger, Seneca called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant ...
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Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the '' Belle Époque'' era of Continental Europe. There was a strong religious drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodists and the evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Ideologically, the Victorian era witnessed resistance to the rationalism that defined the Georgian period, and an increasing turn towards romanticism and even mysticism in religion, social values, and arts. This era saw a staggering amount of technological innovations that proved key to Britain's power and prosperity. Doctors started moving away from tradition and mysticism towards a science-based approach; medicine advanced thanks to the adoption ...
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River Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wash and the North Sea near Kings Lynn. Authorities disagree both on the river's source and its length with one quoting and another . Mostly flowing north and east, it is the fifth longest river in the United Kingdom. The Great Ouse has been historically important for commercial navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows; its best-known tributary is the Cam, which runs through Cambridge. Its lower course passes through drained wetlands and fens and has been extensively modified, or channelised, to relieve flooding and provide a better route for barge traffic. The unmodified river would have changed course regularly after floods. The name ''Ouse'' is from the Celtic or pre-Celtic *''Udso-s'', and probably me ...
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Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst the Borough of Bedford had a population of 157,479. Bedford is also the historic county town of Bedfordshire. Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse and is thought to have been the burial place of King Offa of Mercia, who is remembered for building Offa's Dyke on the Welsh border. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I of England, Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224. Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is known for its large Italians in the United Kingdom, population of Italian descent. History The name of the town is believed to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a Ford (crossing), ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a marke ...
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Great Hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great chamber for eating and relaxing. At that time the word "great" simply meant big and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence. In the medieval period, the room would simply have been referred to as the "hall" unless the building also had a secondary hall, but the term "great hall" has been predominant for surviving rooms of this type for several centuries, to distinguish them from the different type of hall found in post-medieval houses. Great halls were found especially in France, England and Scotland, but similar rooms were also found in some other European countries. A typical great hall was a rectangular room between one and a half and three times as long as it was wide, and also higher than it was wide. It was entered ...
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Tamworth, Staffordshire
Tamworth (, ) is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through it. The population of Tamworth borough () was . The wider urban area had a population of 81,964. Tamworth was the principal centre of royal power of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It hosts a simple but elevated 12th century castle, a well-preserved medieval church (the Church of St Editha) and a Moat House. Tamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire until 1889, when the town was placed entirely in Staffordshire. The town's industries include logistics, engineering, clothing, brick, tile and paper manufacture. Until 2001 one of its factories was Reliant, which produced the Reliant Robin three-wheeler car and the Reliant Scimitar sports car. The ...
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Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ..., England, situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin, of Worcester. The present cathedral church was built between 1084 and 1504, and represents every style of English architecture from Norman architecture, Norman to Perpendicular Gothic. It is famous for its Norman crypt and unique chapter house, its unusual Transitional Gothic bays, its fine woodwork, and its "exquisite" central tower, which is of particularly fine proportions.Tim Tatton-Brown and John Crook, ''The English Cathedral'' The cathedral contains the tombs of John ...
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Brixworth
Brixworth is a large village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 5,162, increasing to 5,228 at the 2011 census. The village's All Saints' Church is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Location The village is about north of Northampton next to the A508 road, which now by-passes the village. It is about south of Market Harborough. About north of the village is a junction with the A14 road that runs between the M1 and M6 motorway interchange at Catthorpe east to Cambridge and the east coast port of Felixstowe. The village is popular with commuters to Leicester, Peterborough, Birmingham and London. The nearest railway stations for London are at Northampton, for London (Euston) ( EUS), and Kettering for London (St Pancras) (STP) and for Leicester ( LEI) at Market Harborough. Trains for Northampton also go to Coventry and Birmingham. History The place-name 'Brixworth' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where ...
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Gumley
Gumley is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district, in the county of Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom. The closest town is Market Harborough. The population of the civil parish (including Laughton, Leics) at the 2011 census was 209. The name Gumley is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon "Gutmundesleah" – meaning Godmund's clearing. History The village is first mentioned in 749. King Æthelbald of Mercia (r.716-757) held a synod at Gumley in that year, at the instigation of Saint Boniface, to answer accusations that he had been oppressing churches and monasteries. The outcome was that Æthelbald released the Church from all public burdens except the three common burdens of providing military service, and building and repairing bridges and fortresses. These obligations arguably initiated changes in the land tenurial system of England and eventually led to serfdom. King Offa visited Gumley in 772 and 779 for the witanagemot of the kings of Mercia. On the so ...
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