May be of interest...?

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

There was a discussion on the Kate Beaton comics LJ site recently on history progs, and after I'd posted some stuff on Mark Steel (as the antidote to the loathsome git the BBC have spent 3 million quid of our money on) someone posted a link to a site that has Mark Steel's TV lectures on, plus a bit of Vive la Revolution...if you like his approach (ok, it's not 100% accurate but what the hell), you may enjoy these - http://www.marksteelinfo.com/audiovideo/default.asp (I'm hoping this link works...)

Comments

[almostlifesized.livejournal.com]

Mark Steel is awesome even though he says Guillotin invented the Guillotine. D:

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

He's a man on a mission!

Ah, well, I reckon 99.9999999% think Guillotin invented it (I only found out he didn't because I was the sort of morbid kid who went out and bought a big book on guillotines...)

[almostlifesized.livejournal.com]

I found out because I was the sort of morbid kid who had an equally morbid dad who insisted on showing me all ye olde executione sites in England. "From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell" etc. :D

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

Hee! My Mum was similar - one of my first memories is of Dick Turpin's death cell in York, and the Chamber of Horrors (Robespierre's head on a historically incorrect spike, that must be where the obsession started...!). My mum was an infant teacher, but she clearly thought violent death was a way to get her kids interested in history (Terry Deary's made an awful lot of money on the same principle, I suppose!).

[almostlifesized.livejournal.com]

Terry Deary is made of AWESOMESAUCE. He has probably scarred me for life, I actually like his lame puns. I'm reading his take on the french revolution now, it makes more sense than my history book from school. He focuses on the nasties, obviously, but they give a sort of simplified overview with some real Q.I treasures that have made it much easier for me to read 'proper' history later. And his recipies things like for Tudor cabbage stew are brilliant xD