Anne Boleyn

Callistemon

^Of course Henry V111 is very interesting, but it's been done to death.^
I was just going to post that too Namsnanny
(It is rather punny though)

funny punny?

Callistemon

^It has been suggested that he took against Anne as revenge for the execution of his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, which is a possibility.^
Cardinal Wolsey died of natural causes before he could be executed. Supposedly.

True, but he was being taken to London having been charged with treason. He would have been unlikely to survive. You are quite right though- he escaped the block.

that remnant from colonialism

WTF?

Shock! Horror! You mean that remnant from colonialism? Thanks for the comedy Alegrias, you are a hoot.

Not as dramatic ( -ally wrong ) as saying that all the actors in Africa are black.

Has anybody told Charlize Theron? ?

It has been suggested that he took against Anne as revenge for the execution of his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, which is a possibility.
Cardinal Wolsey died of natural causes before he could be executed. Supposedly.

Alegrias

I .... just....can't....

Good grief

Are you auditioning for a part? It’s all rather dramatic!

Of course Henry V111 is very interesting, but it's been done to death.
I was just going to post that too Namsnanny
(It is rather punny though)

Doodledog Cardinal Wolsey wasn’t executed.

True Deedaa, and I shall definitely be watching it.

But please producers put your money into other history projects!

Of course the real test will be watching the actual programme. It may be brilliant, it may be same old, same old. We won't know until we watch.

Of course Henry V111 is very interesting, but it's been done to death.
Mainly, imv, because its easy to sell abroad. So financially its a winner.

So many other areas or people in history (not just the royals) we could be entertained and learn something from.

I find this period of history enthralling. Henry was thought to be evil but I believe his advisers had much input into the events during his reign.

AGAA4

Thomas Cromwell played a large part in the downfall of Anne Boleyn. We can never know for sure how much influence he had on Henry.

You are right - there is much of the story that is supposition rather than fact, which is another reason why I think there is still so much interest in it after 500 years.

It is debatable whether Cromwell engineered Anne's downfall at Henry's behest - in order to get rid of her because she hadn't given him a son, and he had replaced her in his affections with Jane Seymour - or whether he did it for his own reasons.

It has been suggested that he took against Anne as revenge for the execution of his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, which is a possibility. As you say, though, we'll never know.

Thomas Cromwell played a large part in the downfall of Anne Boleyn. We can never know for sure how much influence he had on Henry.

We were only talking yesterday about all the attention Henry Viii still gets when he was so evil. What is the fascination.

I think it's partly because he was responsible for creating the C of E, partly because he was Elizabeth's father, and partly because he displayed characteristics that are (sadly) familiar to some people today. He seems to have had a narcissistic personality disorder, falling madly in love, then turning against people very quickly, with the ability to turn his back on people who were out of favour as quickly as he had idealised them in the first place.

I think a lot has to do with the fact that the story has so many opportunities for great drama, though. Six wives with very different stories, good costumes and lots of sex and violence.?

I am looking forward to this new interpretation. I don't know what happened to the last episode of Our Yorkshire Farm though.
. I enjoyed the recent David Copperfield film. We have seen enough white people playing people of colour for long enough and never batted an eyelid.
We were only talking yesterday about all the attention Henry Viii still gets when he was so evil. What is the fascination.

Amalegra - are you saying that people on the forum actually believe Anne Boleyn was black?

I have no particular issue with a black actress in the role of Anne, although I think the story has been rather done to death with each one promising but rarely delivering anything much new! However I belong to a forum called Quora, which has its fair share of those who are not familiar with British history and recent posts have been protesting that the fact that this lady was ‘of colour’ is not widely known! It chimes nicely in with the current, and very tedious, saga of the Sussexes and I fear that some ill informed people are going to use this as a stick to further bash us ‘racist’ Brits with. I hope I am wrong but just a thought.

Not at all Fanny. It's wrong to change the race or sex of a person who actually existed and who we know about. However, having a gay actor play them is neither here nor there. A black British actor can play a black American part, he doesn't need to have experienced what it is like to be a black American if he researches his part. And we're talking all roles here, not just real historical people.

Chestnut

It's great if they can find people who have a similar background to the part they play, but it needn't be an actual requirement. You do not need to be gay, black American or anything else for that matter to play a role. The actor often researches their part in detail to get an an understanding of the character. It's called acting.

Chestnut you've just totally contradicted what you've been arguing for the past day!

It's great if they can find people who have a similar background to the part they play, but it needn't be an actual requirement. You do not need to be gay, black American or anything else for that matter to play a role. The actor often researches their part in detail to get an an understanding of the character. It's called acting.

Frankly, ever since I read that Samual L Jackson has a problem with black British actors playing American parts, on the premise that the British have no understands of what its like to be black American, I saw the whole argument about racism in a different light.

I dare say in Africa all the actors are black.

I .... just....can't....

Good grief.

You mean the words to Bohemian Rhapsody?