Elgiva Box Office 01494 582 900

Elgiva Box Office 01494 582 900

Horrible historical facts about the Terrible Tudors

Discover some terrible Tudor truths with our astonishing historical facts – become a mine of information and amaze your friends!

Thomas More is an odd choice for a saint – he had 40 Protestants imprisoned and another 6 burned alive!

Henry VIII asked Thomas Cromwell to find him a fourth wife. Thomas chose Anne of Cleeves and so Henry had him beheaded!

Mary I is known as ‘Bloody Mary’ because she had 283 people executed – but that is nothing compared to the 72,000 executed during the reign of Henry VIII!

When she was growing up, Elizabeth I did not have much money and when she outgrew her clothes, begging letters had to be sent to buy her new ones.

In 1589 Elizabeth I ordered a counter-Armada to attack the Spanish but it failed with 15,000 lives and 40 ships lost.

Life expectancy in the Tudor period was just 35–40 years.

Henry VIII had a ‘Groom of the Stool’ whose job was to help the King have a poo.

Henry VIII felt being called “Your Highness” wasn’t good enough for him, so insisted on being called “Your Majesty” which still persists for monarchs today.

The Tudors had odd ideas about medicine and thought you could cure a headache by rubbing your forehead with a rope used to hang a criminal!

In 1531 Henry VIII made a new law that anyone guilty of poisoning was to be boiled alive!

Come and find out for yourself! Meet the Terrible Tudors in our
Horrible Histories show, live on The Elgiva stage in March!

 Thursday 24th March – 1.30pm &  7pm
Friday 25th March – 10am & 7pm
Saturday 26th March – 2pm & 7pm

Tale as old as Time

Sarah Helm reflects on doing time at His Majesty’s Pleasure. Grab your porridge, we’re behind bars in our monthly film blog!