17/10/2013 Meet the Author


17/10/2013

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music. Now on BBC News it is time for Meet

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The Author with Nick Higham. In August last year, archaeologists

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working in a car park in Leicester uncovered the remains of the last

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English king to die in battle, Richard III, kill that the Battle of

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Bosworth just outside Leicester in 1485, and known to us as one of

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history's great villains. The archaeologists were there thanks

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to the energy and persistence of one woman, Philip Langley, an historian

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and enthusiast. Now she and Michael Jones have written a book. In it,

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Philip Langley tells the story of the archaeological dig, what led up

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to it and what they discovered. Michael Jones tells the story of the

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King's life and death in the light of what we now know. Philippa

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Langley, Michael Jones, I suppose Richard III is the best example of

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what we know of in English history, of someone whose reputation has

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suffered because history is written by the victors. The Tudors who came

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after him rubbished his reputation and Shakespeare depicted him as the

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arch bill on. This book is an attempt to rehabilitate him. Do you

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think you have succeeded `` arch villain. I wanted to put him back

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into the context of his time. Not to replace a sinner with a saint, but

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to tell the story in the context of the times of the walls of the Roses,

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a particularly turbulent and bloody time of our history. And also to put

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him back in the context of his family. Shakespeare made him a

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villain but also an outsider, a kind of sociopath. I wanted to put him

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back in his family's story. It is not about making him good, it is

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about making him real. One of the most controversial stories about

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Richard III is that he bumped off his nephews. This is an amicable

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collaboration on this book but you actually disagree! Philippa, what is

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your position? The reason I do not think Richard killed his nephews is

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it was against his character, it was not in his best interests and it

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also played directly into the hands of his enemies. For those three

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reasons I think, no way. Michael? From an historical background I

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think the probability is that he did it. We do not know what happened to

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the Princes in the Tower. My take is he was not the evil schemer who was

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attempting to bump them from the beginning, but he was forced early

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on in his reign to do this terrible act. This book and the television

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documentary which preceded it and the archaeological dig which

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discovered Richard's remains, all of this came about because of your

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energy and drive and determination. Why, what started you on this? Why

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was it so important? I was researching Richard's life for a

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screenplay because I think we are always looking for those complex

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characters which do the most incredible things. Richard just

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fitted this is like a glove so it was his life that fascinated me. I

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went to visit Leicester and ended up going to a car park and I did have

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an experience in that car park where I felt I was walking on his grave. A

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lot of people will find that hard to accept, it is a suggestion of second

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sight? It is what it is. It was the catalyst for me and it was the

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driver for my research. It took 7.5 years to get that tarmac cut. What I

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then did was I then had to go into the research. I could not walk into

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any organisation and see, I would like to did your car park because I

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feel there might be a King's grave there. We had to have the research

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to back it up. The remarkable thing is when you did start digging in the

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car park and cut the tarmac, not only did the archaeologists find

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what they hoped to find, which was a church which has long since

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vanished, but on the very first day you discovered what turned out to be

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the bones of Richard III. Archaeology is not supposed to work

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like that. Know, and we found the bones in the except place where I

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thought he would be. Finding the bones was important. As Matt

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admitted, it was unlikely. If I put this trench in 50 centimetres

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further east I would have missed it entirely and we would never have

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known it was there. A close shave, but the King had been uncovered. It

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turns out they are Richard John and reasonable doubt. There is DNA

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evidence and evidence of the curvature of the spine which goes

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some way to support the popular idea that he was a hunchback. You dislike

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that? He was not a hunchback. It is such an inappropriate word but we do

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not have another word for it. Hunchback syndrome is when the head

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is pushed forwards and downwards onto the chest. And scoliosis, the

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twisted spine does not do that? Know, it is a condition, not later

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this ability. Usain Bolt has scoliosis. How has our understanding

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of Richard changed? What does it enable historians to conclude what

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they did not know before? First of all, it gives a vital tangibility.

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His reputation was so distorted, it was as if he was in the hall of

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mirrors, a distorting hall of mirrors. His appearance, his

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character, his motivation was progressively distorted. With

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Shakespeare we get such a consummate powerful villain, that it is very

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hard to get him out of our sight range. Now we have an antidote to

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that. There is now a row about the proposed tomb. You, in the book,

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have a picture of the proposal of the tomb for Leicester Cathedral

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which has been rejected by the Leicester Cathedral authorities, as

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I understand it, and they have proposed an alternative design of

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their own and you do not like it? I just think the project I delivered

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to Leicester was all about dignity for Richard and giving him what he

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did not get in 1485. I just think there are issues with burying the

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last medieval warrior king of England in such a modernistic tomb.

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I think it needs to have an essence of the man we are burying here.

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Michael? Yes, I think there is a place for modernism but there is

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also a place for tradition and I think the keywords here our respect

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and dignity. He did not get that in 1485 and we would like to see that

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happen now. Michael Jones, Philippa Langley, thank you very much. Thank

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you. This is BBC News and coming up in

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the next hour, we will take a closer look at China's nuclear energy

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aspirations.

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