Friday, February 27, 2015
By Craig Brown for the Daily Mail
Published: 01:53 GMT, 29 January 2015 | Updated: 01:53 GMT, 29 January 2015
Beats by Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn rocks last season's must have portable stereo accessory
Sir — Halfway through episode one of BBC TV’s Wolf Hall, I’m pretty certain I noticed Anne Boleyn carrying one of the first Apple iPods and wearing headphones atop her Tudor bonnet.
Whilst agreeing that the iPod Classic is now considered old-fashioned, it was surely only used in Tudor times in its earliest form, ie, without electric batteries, which had not yet been invented.
No doubt the so-called ‘experts’ would argue that Boleyn was listening to old-fashioned Tudor-style lute music on those headphones rather than, say grunge or ‘hip-hop’, but that is not the point.
P. Nicketty, Barking.
Sir — Further to P. Nicketty’s letter, I would point out that what he took to be iPod headphones was in fact a Tudor headpiece, of a type that was regularly to be seen in King Henry VIII’s court.
Nevertheless, the production did contain one notable anachronism — 22 minutes in, Damian Lewis, who plays King Henry VIII, could be seen in a ripped T-shirt, brandishing a Kalashnikov and yelling at a small crowd to ‘get the hell out of my way’.
Though no expert on the Tudor period, I am convinced that such a thing would never have happened in the olden days.
Margaret Muddle, Effingham.
Sir — Further to M. Muddle’s letter, I can only conclude that she was watching Damian Lewis starring not as King Henry VIII but as Sergeant Nicholas ‘Nick’ Brody in the contemporary U.S. drama Homeland, which was showing on the other side from Wolf Hall at the same time.
To my mind, Wolf Hall was historically correct down to the very last detail, though I frankly doubt that men at court in those days would have used electric toothbrushes, however large and primitive!
N. Picker (Mr), Wittering.
Sir — Mr Picker is surely referring to the jousting scene in episode two. The long pointed poles held by the knights in armour were not super-sized electric toothbrushes but javelins.
Might I take this opportunity to congratulate the entire production team on the complete absence of motor cars?
Too many Tudor series in the past have been marred by Cardinal Wolsey or one of his minions drawing up at Hampton Court in a vintage Rolls-Royce or E-type Jaguar. The Cardinal himself drove a Wolsey.
I also clearly remember a scene in which Keith Michell, playing King Henry VIII, sang with his Six Wives on Top Of The Pops, a programme that was not screened for the first time until 1964, a clear 417 years after the King’s death!
P. E. Dant, Bickering.
Sir — Mr Dant has it wrong. Keith Michell made his appearance on Top Of The Pops not in his role as King Henry VIII but as Captain Beaky, singing the hit song of the same name.
This hit number peaked at No. 5 in the charts in 1980. As I remember it, the characters accompanying Keith onstage were not his Six Wives but Timid Toad, Reckless Rat, Artful Owl and Batty Bat, with Hissing Sid in attendance.
Geoff Cleverly, Berks.
Sir — May I express my horror at some of the wholly inappropriate language used in Wolf Hall.
For example, in episode two, Cardinal Wolsey would never have said to Anne of Cleves: ‘You’ve got a grand pair there, love.’ He would surely have expressed himself with greater courtesy.
E. Primm, Wapping.
Sir — With our increasing reliance on the TV remote control device, it is all too easy to switch on the wrong channel. This may lead you to believe you are watching a historical drama when in reality you are watching an all-too-contemporary ‘chat-show’.
I should thus point out that it was Keith Lemon, the over-the-top comic character, who said, ‘You’ve got a grand pair there, love’, and he said it not to Anne of Cleves but to Holly Willoughby, his fellow guest on the Jonathan Ross Show.
D.P., Braintree.
Sir — As an acclaimed TV historian, I am utterly sick and tired of the tissue of lies that is Wolf Hall. It is riddled throughout with gross historical inaccuracies and is based on nothing more nor less than a deliberate perversion of fact.
Furthermore, there is not one scrap of evidence that I have ever watched it or read it, nor that I have any intention of so doing.
Dr David Starkey, Diss.
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Published: 01:53 GMT, 29 January 2015 | Updated: 01:53 GMT, 29 January 2015
Beats by Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn rocks last season's must have portable stereo accessorySir — Halfway through episode one of BBC TV’s Wolf Hall, I’m pretty certain I noticed Anne Boleyn carrying one of the first Apple iPods and wearing headphones atop her Tudor bonnet.
Whilst agreeing that the iPod Classic is now considered old-fashioned, it was surely only used in Tudor times in its earliest form, ie, without electric batteries, which had not yet been invented.
No doubt the so-called ‘experts’ would argue that Boleyn was listening to old-fashioned Tudor-style lute music on those headphones rather than, say grunge or ‘hip-hop’, but that is not the point.
P. Nicketty, Barking.
Sir — Further to P. Nicketty’s letter, I would point out that what he took to be iPod headphones was in fact a Tudor headpiece, of a type that was regularly to be seen in King Henry VIII’s court.
Nevertheless, the production did contain one notable anachronism — 22 minutes in, Damian Lewis, who plays King Henry VIII, could be seen in a ripped T-shirt, brandishing a Kalashnikov and yelling at a small crowd to ‘get the hell out of my way’.
Though no expert on the Tudor period, I am convinced that such a thing would never have happened in the olden days.
Margaret Muddle, Effingham.
Sir — Further to M. Muddle’s letter, I can only conclude that she was watching Damian Lewis starring not as King Henry VIII but as Sergeant Nicholas ‘Nick’ Brody in the contemporary U.S. drama Homeland, which was showing on the other side from Wolf Hall at the same time.
To my mind, Wolf Hall was historically correct down to the very last detail, though I frankly doubt that men at court in those days would have used electric toothbrushes, however large and primitive!
N. Picker (Mr), Wittering.
Sir — Mr Picker is surely referring to the jousting scene in episode two. The long pointed poles held by the knights in armour were not super-sized electric toothbrushes but javelins.
Might I take this opportunity to congratulate the entire production team on the complete absence of motor cars?
Too many Tudor series in the past have been marred by Cardinal Wolsey or one of his minions drawing up at Hampton Court in a vintage Rolls-Royce or E-type Jaguar. The Cardinal himself drove a Wolsey.
I also clearly remember a scene in which Keith Michell, playing King Henry VIII, sang with his Six Wives on Top Of The Pops, a programme that was not screened for the first time until 1964, a clear 417 years after the King’s death!
P. E. Dant, Bickering.
Sir — Mr Dant has it wrong. Keith Michell made his appearance on Top Of The Pops not in his role as King Henry VIII but as Captain Beaky, singing the hit song of the same name.
This hit number peaked at No. 5 in the charts in 1980. As I remember it, the characters accompanying Keith onstage were not his Six Wives but Timid Toad, Reckless Rat, Artful Owl and Batty Bat, with Hissing Sid in attendance.
Geoff Cleverly, Berks.
Sir — May I express my horror at some of the wholly inappropriate language used in Wolf Hall.
For example, in episode two, Cardinal Wolsey would never have said to Anne of Cleves: ‘You’ve got a grand pair there, love.’ He would surely have expressed himself with greater courtesy.
E. Primm, Wapping.
Sir — With our increasing reliance on the TV remote control device, it is all too easy to switch on the wrong channel. This may lead you to believe you are watching a historical drama when in reality you are watching an all-too-contemporary ‘chat-show’.
I should thus point out that it was Keith Lemon, the over-the-top comic character, who said, ‘You’ve got a grand pair there, love’, and he said it not to Anne of Cleves but to Holly Willoughby, his fellow guest on the Jonathan Ross Show.
D.P., Braintree.
Sir — As an acclaimed TV historian, I am utterly sick and tired of the tissue of lies that is Wolf Hall. It is riddled throughout with gross historical inaccuracies and is based on nothing more nor less than a deliberate perversion of fact.
Furthermore, there is not one scrap of evidence that I have ever watched it or read it, nor that I have any intention of so doing.
Dr David Starkey, Diss.
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