Good morning, Tony continues his walking tour of Great Britain.  Today, he is going to embark on a four-day walk from Penshurst to Lewes.  He is exploring the life of Henry VIII.  Along the way, he discovers magnificent manor houses and other lesser-known sites.  The run time for this episode is 46:48.  This episode is called The Tudor Way.

Penshurst starts Tony’s walk and talks about how Henry VIII became King and married Catherine of Aragon.  The King would begin his reign following the old order, however, he was a king that would eventually change that order.  Penshurst would be the site of that change ten years into Henry VIII’s reign.  In 1519, Henry VIII would arrive at the Duke of Buckingham’s house where a party was thrown.  It was one of the biggest parties that the house had seen.  Duke of Buckingham wanted to show off his wealth, which was a mistake, Henry VIII saw the wealth and this fed his paranoia.  The Duke of Buckingham was eventually accused of treason and was executed.  This was a hint as to how brutal Henry VIII would eventually be.

After the trip to Penshurst, Tony heads on over to Hever Castle and learns about the Boleyn family.  The Boleyns were a rising family in Tudor England.  Tony walks along an old coach road to arrive at Hever Castle.  This coach road was one a thoroughfare and it was said that the road was worn down by generations of walkers.  Eventually, Tony arrives at Hever Castle and imagines Henry VIII arriving at the castle to pursue a beautiful girl.

Here, he meets up with Tracy Borman to learn more about the Boleyns.  The Boleyns were new money and made their money from trade.  This would have flown in the face of the old, aristocratic money.  Thomas Boleyn, the head of the family, was a beloved member of the Tudor court.  Importantly, Thomas Boleyn had two daughters: Mary and Anne Boleyn.  Mary would succumb to Henry’s charms, while Anne would hold out against his advances.  Both Tony and Tracy go over the letters that Henry wrote to Anne.  Henry VIII was after the male heir that he so desperately wanted.  Anne would have never caught the King’s eye without her father’s money.

How money was made was changing in Tudor England.  Tony then explores the early Tudor industry.  The industry would be one of the ways the Tudors could make money.  Wealden is the home of one of these Tudor industries.  Tony learns about a cannon that was made in the area from local iron ore.  The King would have been encouraging industry.  Local landowners would have been involved in the industry and the Boleyn Family would have been quick to invest in the local iron industry.  Furnaces and forges were built in the area.  However today, little remains of the beginnings of the industry remain today.  Henry VIII would oversee a change in the English economy.

Tony continues on his walk and takes a detour on his explorations of Henry VIII and explores the local landscape that would have inspired Winnie the Pooh stories.  This was a cute little detour on Tony’s walk and this section could have a place in a literature class.  After this detour in English literature, Tony returns his attention to Henry VIII and his love of hunting.  Tony explores a pristine area of forest that was untouched by industry.  Why was this area untouched, Tony wants to find the reason why.  So why was this area untouched?  What else does Tony learn about Henry VIII?  Where do Tony’s travels take him?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

Sir Tony Robinson talking about King Henry VIII, yes, please!  It was very cool that Tony went beyond the six wives and talked about there was an economic change in England under Henry VIII.  The detour into the story of Winne the Pooh was very well done too.  It was a refreshing look at Henry VIII and I would watch another Tony-narrated documentary on Henry VIII.  This was a very well-done walk and would be an episode to show to both a history and geography classroom.

Good afternoon, good morning, or good evening depending on when you are reading this post.  It is time to kick the summer off right.  I am kicking off the summer with Sir Tony Robinson and a Walking Tour of Britain this year.  This is part of Tony’s series Walking Through Britain.  The episode has a run time of 47:29 and is called Frontline Dorset.

In this series, Sir Tony Robinson discovers the history of Britain while on foot.  He goes on walking tours of Great Britain to discover history that really does not get told or seen.  He walks historic landscapes an travels through magnificent scenery.  In each episode, Tony embarks on a planned 60 Mile Walk.   The walks cover four ears in history featuring highlights of the era.  This is British history as only Sir Tony Robinson can tell it.

Sir Tony in this episode explores Dorset and learns about the county’s place in World War II history.  This coastline has some of the finest scenery in Britain.  Jagged cliffs overlook shallow bays.  Winding pathways make this area perfect for the most enthusiastic walker.  Tony’s walk will show the highlights of this area.  He kicks off his walk-in Abbotsbuy on a beach.  He then goes to Weymouth and Portland and concludes his walk at Swanage. 

Throughout his walk, he sees the remains of preparation for the defense of Great Britain during World War II.  World War II has left its mark on Dorset.  The eighteen-mile beach he walks was created by tidal currents bringing up shingles, known as small pebbles.  It is a beach that is covered with pebbles and is giving Tony a good workout.  Back in World War II, this beach would have been a target for a Nazi invasion and Tony learns about the defenses that were made to stop a potential Nazi invasion.  There were a variety of different types of defenses that were built to stop the machine and human invaders.

He takes in a little bird-watching in the lagoon behind the beach before learning about the bouncing bomb.  These bouncing bombs were tested in the lagoon.  The inventor needed a long stretch of shallow and open water to test these innovative bombs.  These bombs were used to destroy dams in Germany during World War II.  Breaking up the dams in the dam-busting raids would seriously undercut the German industrial power.  Tony catches up with a pair of locals who watched these bomb tests as young boys.

He goes to Langton Herring.  It is known as a doubly thankful village because all the men that fought in World War I and World War II came back.  There are no war memorials in this town.  After passing through this village, he goes to the port area of Weymouth and Portland.  It would have been a prime target for the Nazis to attack in preparation for an invasion.  It is here that Tony talks with a local who remembers these raids.  A merchant ship was converted into an air raid defender and in one of these raids this ship was attacked and sunk.  After Tony’s visit, he goes to a war cemetery and visits the grave of a Victoria Cross recipient.  Eventually, the Nazis turned their attention to London and bigger targets and Tony passes through the intact Georgian streets of Weymouth.

He kicks off day two with a full English breakfast and despairs over the weather forecast.  Will he stay dry on this section of the walk?  He will have to watch his feet on this section of his walk.  Where else do these walks take Tony?  What else does Tony learn about Dorset’s role in World War II?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

Sir Tony Robinson continues to be both an enjoyable and a delight to watch as he embarks on his walks.  The rain he encounters does not dampen his wry enthusiasm.  I also got a kick out of him climbing the fence to get a better look at the searchlight.  This episode really did do a job in getting the hidden history of World War II.  So far, I would recommend this for a history class as well as a geography class.