In 1755 Johnson’s great masterpiece was published ... It was this two-volume Dr Johnson’s dictionary of the English language. ibid.
In the middle of the eighteenth century with naval and commercial victories oversees Britain was entering a new imperial era. It drew us into a different way of thinking about the world. Led from the top by the Royal Family, the figureheads of the nation. David Dimbleby, Seven Ages of Britain: Age of Empire
It wasn’t long before the settlers were confident enough not to need the motherland. In 1776 America declared its independence from Britain and war broke out between them. For eight years the country was drenched in blood. A defining moment in its history and an enduring inspiration for its art. Against all expectations the British Crown was defeated by its own colony. Back in Britain many felt the loss of America was a national humiliation. They were determined the same thing should not happen again. Britain’s focus now moved to the east and to its interests in India. ibid.
King Henry’s relationship with the Church has broken down at home and abroad since his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The British III: Revolution, Sky Atlantic 2012
This is the first time the English language comes to the printed page. ibid.
In this raid, [Sir Francis] Drake seized eighty pound in weight of gold. And more than twenty-six tons in silver bars ... It’s one of the biggest heists in history. ibid.
London’s most successful playwright William Shakespeare is preparing for a royal premiere. ibid.
Cromwell’s New Model Army will eventually defeat the forces of the King. ibid.
How this small group of islands becomes a superpower. The British IV: Dirty Money
The worst inferno in London until the Blitz. ibid.
Samuel Pepys has lived in London his entire life. His diary documents the fear of half a million Londoners. ibid.
Britain becomes the world’s largest slave trader. ibid.
July 1769 the South Pacific: Lieutenant James Cook is on a secret mission for the British government: his orders to go in search of the fabled southern continent. The British V: Superpower
Britain is already a world power. ibid.
Travelling with Cook is a young botanist – Joseph Banks. ibid.
Lancaster 1768 ... They are trying to build a machine to stretch and spin cotton perfectly. ibid.
The Luddites are now doomed: they cannot resist the power of the state or the advance of the machine. ibid.
Lancashire’s cotton mills will employ 120,000 people. ibid.
By 1830 Britain is producing four-fifths of all the coal sold anywhere in the world. And from coal you can make steam. ibid.
The railways transform British life. ibid.
24-year-old engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designs a suspension bridge to span the gorge. ibid.
Britain earns itself a new title – the Workshop of the World. ibid.
Refrigeration increases food supply and brings down prices. ibid.
1851 London: in the reign of Queen Victoria – the Great Exhibition. Six million visitors come to see 100,000 exhibits. Showcasing the British Empire at its height. The British VI: Tale of Two Cities
Britain leads the world in manufacture, trade and engineering. But at a terrible human cost. ibid.
From this moment the expression ‘to spend a penny’ was said to enter the English language. Jennings’ invention is a huge success. ibid.
In the London slums, half of all babies die before their first birthday. ibid.
Cholera: Snow wants to prove there is a link between the victims ... All the victims drank from the Broad Street pump ... He still has a pub in Soho named after him. ibid.
Britain begins the most radical clean-up in our history ... Pure uncontaminated water is available for all. ibid.
One third of London’s inhabitants live without sufficient food or shelter. ibid.
Tasmania – the empire’s first juvenile prison. By the end of the 19th century over 160,000 British convicts are deported to Australia. 15,000 are children under sixteen. ibid.
Charles Dickens writes about the city’s underclass. ibid.
Butler enters crime-ridden slums to challenge a form of exploitation common in Victorian cities – child prostitution. ibid.
Electricity will change Britain for ever. ibid.
In 1553 the only heirs to the Tudor throne were female. The next three monarchs of England would be women. Dr Helen Castor, She-Wolves: England’s Early Queens III: Jane, Mary and Elizabeth
Nine-year-old Edward became king of England ... A few months after his fifteenth birthday Edward fell seriously ill ... He was dying. ibid.
Mary’s fear was that faith would usurp bloodline. ibid.
So in his [Edward’s] first draft he left his crown not to the Gray girls but to the sons they might one day have – their heirs male. ibid.
Jane Gray was strong willed and ferociously intelligent, but she was only fifteen and struggling with shock and grief. ibid.
Mary was determined she would be Queen. ibid.
Jane may have been proclaimed England’s Queen for a fleeting moment but she was never crowned. ibid.
Mary became the first Queen of England to be crowned in her own right. ibid.
Mary’s decision to marry Philip [II] has been seen as the defining mistake of her reign. ibid.
Jane was led to the scaffold in the precincts of the Tower. ibid.
Mary knew she needed an heir. ibid.
Mary undid Edward’s Protestant Reformation. ibid.
On 17th November 1558 Mary died. ibid.
The Tudors are historical superstars, our most famous royal dynasty. But there is one Tudor monarch who has been all but forgotten: Queen Jane. Helen Castor, England’s Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey I, BBC 2018
Lady Jane Grey was a teenager thrust on to the throne only to lose her crown after nine days. ibid.
This is Edward’s device for the succession … He’s decided on a particular female line. ibid.
Jane was certainly put under pressure to be married. ibid.
‘This is not for me; the rightful heir is Mary.’ ibid. cited French ambassador
The first woman to be proclaimed Queen of England … It’s a Tudor thriller. Helen Castor, England’s Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey II
Northumberland has focused on securing the Tower and the machinery of state. It suggests at this point he doesn’t see Mary as a serious threat. ibid.
In July 1553 the choice the country faced was not just Jane or Mary, it was Protestant or Catholic. ibid.
Grass-roots support for Mary begins to have a surprising effect on the higher ranks of society. ibid.
She has locked her own supporters inside the Tower with her. Helen Castor, England’s Forgotten Queen: The List and Death of Lady Jane Grey III
The [Privy] Council had put Jane on the throne and now they abandon her and declare for Mary. ibid.
Mary looked for a bloodless resolution. ibid.
Jane was tried alongside her husband Guildford. ibid.