I’m in the west Midlands about 20 miles east of Birmingham on my way to the site of one of the bloodiest battles that ever occurred on English soil. Rob Bell, Britain’s Lost Battlefields s1e3: The Battle of Watling Street
Nealy 2,000 years ago: the might of the Roman army and our ancestors the Celts led by the warrior queen Boudica. ibid.
One of the bloodiest battles in our island’s history. ibid.
‘We have up to 230,000 native Britons.’ ibid. expert
South of Market Bosworth: Over 500 years ago a defining moment in British history took place here. The Battle of Bosworth was the final chapter in the Wars of the Roses, a series of conflicts in which two rival dynasties, the white rose of the York and the red rose of the Lancasters, fought for control of the throne over 30 years. Rob Bell, Britain’s Lost Battlefields s1e4: The Battle of Bosworth Field
With the princes out of the way, the Yorkist Richard faced another threat: this time from Lancastrian Henry Tudor, who for the last 14 years had been living in Brittany. ibid.
Henry sailed in from France and marched his invasion force from Wales through the Midlands. His men clashed with Richard’s at Bosworth field. ibid.
I’m in Northamptonshire on my way to a battlefield where England changed from being a monarchy to a republic … Members of parliament were in armed conflict with their king. Rob Bell, Britain’s Lost Battlefields s1e5: Naseby
At the start of 1640s Charles I was King … There was growing disapproval of the King.
At around 3.30 p.m. as the Royalist foot soldiers lay down their arms, King Charles I and his lifeguards fled the battlefield. ibid.
Two battling opponents: the fiercest political rivals Britain has ever seen. There’s the man who virtually invented the Liberal party, William Gladstone, and close by the founder of modern Conservatism, Benjamin Disraeli. Gladstone & Disraeli: Clash of the Titans, Huw Edwards reporting, BBC 2012
Gladstone and Disraeli dominated political life in the Victorian age and became inseparable in the public mind. ibid.
Beneath its cloak of global eminence the country was a mess. Bedevilled by poverty and disease and riddled with discontent. ibid.
Right from the start significantly they did not hit it off. ibid.
In the end Peel did get his way over the corn laws but Disraeli’s campaign against him had weakened his authority so much that he resigned. ibid.
Gladstone’s attack on Disraeli’s first budget marks a turning point in their relationship. Their private feud was about to go public in a big way. ibid.
Hemmed in by Gladstone, Disraeli was prime minister in name only. Hugely frustrated by this he called a general election. ibid.
The Tories needed to get serious about social reform … Hard-headed political calculation was the main factor involved. ibid.
Their forty-year drama wasn’t over yet. ibid.