:00:00. > :00:00.music. Now on BBC News it is time for Meet
:00:07. > :00:10.The Author with Nick Higham. In August last year, archaeologists
:00:11. > :00:14.working in a car park in Leicester uncovered the remains of the last
:00:15. > :00:20.English king to die in battle, Richard III, kill that the Battle of
:00:21. > :00:24.Bosworth just outside Leicester in 1485, and known to us as one of
:00:25. > :00:29.history's great villains. The archaeologists were there thanks
:00:30. > :00:36.to the energy and persistence of one woman, Philip Langley, an historian
:00:37. > :00:42.and enthusiast. Now she and Michael Jones have written a book. In it,
:00:43. > :00:47.Philip Langley tells the story of the archaeological dig, what led up
:00:48. > :00:52.to it and what they discovered. Michael Jones tells the story of the
:00:53. > :01:01.King's life and death in the light of what we now know. Philippa
:01:02. > :01:06.Langley, Michael Jones, I suppose Richard III is the best example of
:01:07. > :01:09.what we know of in English history, of someone whose reputation has
:01:10. > :01:15.suffered because history is written by the victors. The Tudors who came
:01:16. > :01:19.after him rubbished his reputation and Shakespeare depicted him as the
:01:20. > :01:26.arch bill on. This book is an attempt to rehabilitate him. Do you
:01:27. > :01:31.think you have succeeded `` arch villain. I wanted to put him back
:01:32. > :01:39.into the context of his time. Not to replace a sinner with a saint, but
:01:40. > :01:42.to tell the story in the context of the times of the walls of the Roses,
:01:43. > :01:46.a particularly turbulent and bloody time of our history. And also to put
:01:47. > :01:50.him back in the context of his family. Shakespeare made him a
:01:51. > :01:55.villain but also an outsider, a kind of sociopath. I wanted to put him
:01:56. > :02:01.back in his family's story. It is not about making him good, it is
:02:02. > :02:08.about making him real. One of the most controversial stories about
:02:09. > :02:13.Richard III is that he bumped off his nephews. This is an amicable
:02:14. > :02:20.collaboration on this book but you actually disagree! Philippa, what is
:02:21. > :02:25.your position? The reason I do not think Richard killed his nephews is
:02:26. > :02:28.it was against his character, it was not in his best interests and it
:02:29. > :02:38.also played directly into the hands of his enemies. For those three
:02:39. > :02:40.reasons I think, no way. Michael? From an historical background I
:02:41. > :02:46.think the probability is that he did it. We do not know what happened to
:02:47. > :02:51.the Princes in the Tower. My take is he was not the evil schemer who was
:02:52. > :03:00.attempting to bump them from the beginning, but he was forced early
:03:01. > :03:05.on in his reign to do this terrible act. This book and the television
:03:06. > :03:09.documentary which preceded it and the archaeological dig which
:03:10. > :03:13.discovered Richard's remains, all of this came about because of your
:03:14. > :03:21.energy and drive and determination. Why, what started you on this? Why
:03:22. > :03:25.was it so important? I was researching Richard's life for a
:03:26. > :03:28.screenplay because I think we are always looking for those complex
:03:29. > :03:34.characters which do the most incredible things. Richard just
:03:35. > :03:40.fitted this is like a glove so it was his life that fascinated me. I
:03:41. > :03:44.went to visit Leicester and ended up going to a car park and I did have
:03:45. > :03:50.an experience in that car park where I felt I was walking on his grave. A
:03:51. > :03:56.lot of people will find that hard to accept, it is a suggestion of second
:03:57. > :04:01.sight? It is what it is. It was the catalyst for me and it was the
:04:02. > :04:07.driver for my research. It took 7.5 years to get that tarmac cut. What I
:04:08. > :04:11.then did was I then had to go into the research. I could not walk into
:04:12. > :04:14.any organisation and see, I would like to did your car park because I
:04:15. > :04:21.feel there might be a King's grave there. We had to have the research
:04:22. > :04:25.to back it up. The remarkable thing is when you did start digging in the
:04:26. > :04:29.car park and cut the tarmac, not only did the archaeologists find
:04:30. > :04:34.what they hoped to find, which was a church which has long since
:04:35. > :04:37.vanished, but on the very first day you discovered what turned out to be
:04:38. > :04:44.the bones of Richard III. Archaeology is not supposed to work
:04:45. > :04:49.like that. Know, and we found the bones in the except place where I
:04:50. > :05:00.thought he would be. Finding the bones was important. As Matt
:05:01. > :05:03.admitted, it was unlikely. If I put this trench in 50 centimetres
:05:04. > :05:08.further east I would have missed it entirely and we would never have
:05:09. > :05:13.known it was there. A close shave, but the King had been uncovered. It
:05:14. > :05:18.turns out they are Richard John and reasonable doubt. There is DNA
:05:19. > :05:23.evidence and evidence of the curvature of the spine which goes
:05:24. > :05:33.some way to support the popular idea that he was a hunchback. You dislike
:05:34. > :05:38.that? He was not a hunchback. It is such an inappropriate word but we do
:05:39. > :05:43.not have another word for it. Hunchback syndrome is when the head
:05:44. > :05:49.is pushed forwards and downwards onto the chest. And scoliosis, the
:05:50. > :05:55.twisted spine does not do that? Know, it is a condition, not later
:05:56. > :06:03.this ability. Usain Bolt has scoliosis. How has our understanding
:06:04. > :06:07.of Richard changed? What does it enable historians to conclude what
:06:08. > :06:13.they did not know before? First of all, it gives a vital tangibility.
:06:14. > :06:17.His reputation was so distorted, it was as if he was in the hall of
:06:18. > :06:23.mirrors, a distorting hall of mirrors. His appearance, his
:06:24. > :06:27.character, his motivation was progressively distorted. With
:06:28. > :06:31.Shakespeare we get such a consummate powerful villain, that it is very
:06:32. > :06:40.hard to get him out of our sight range. Now we have an antidote to
:06:41. > :06:46.that. There is now a row about the proposed tomb. You, in the book,
:06:47. > :06:49.have a picture of the proposal of the tomb for Leicester Cathedral
:06:50. > :06:52.which has been rejected by the Leicester Cathedral authorities, as
:06:53. > :06:57.I understand it, and they have proposed an alternative design of
:06:58. > :07:01.their own and you do not like it? I just think the project I delivered
:07:02. > :07:06.to Leicester was all about dignity for Richard and giving him what he
:07:07. > :07:11.did not get in 1485. I just think there are issues with burying the
:07:12. > :07:18.last medieval warrior king of England in such a modernistic tomb.
:07:19. > :07:25.I think it needs to have an essence of the man we are burying here.
:07:26. > :07:31.Michael? Yes, I think there is a place for modernism but there is
:07:32. > :07:35.also a place for tradition and I think the keywords here our respect
:07:36. > :07:40.and dignity. He did not get that in 1485 and we would like to see that
:07:41. > :07:47.happen now. Michael Jones, Philippa Langley, thank you very much. Thank
:07:48. > :07:52.you. This is BBC News and coming up in
:07:53. > :07:53.the next hour, we will take a closer look at China's nuclear energy
:07:54. > :07:56.aspirations.