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Curated playlist

People from Westminster

  • Charles II of EnglandCharles II was received in London on the 29th of May 1660, which happened to be his 30th birthday. The crowds met the returning king with public acclaim. He would go on to rule England, Scotland and Ireland until 1685. Contemporaries found…
  • Rachel WeiszRachel Weisz first made headlines in 1984 by saying no. She was a teenage model who had started working at the age of 14, and she turned down an offer to star in King David opposite Richard Gere. The British actress, born on the 7th of…
  • Elizabeth of YorkElizabeth of York died on her 37th birthday. She was Henry VII's queen and Henry VIII's mother.
  • Tom HiddlestonTom Hiddleston is a British actor who once played Hamlet in a theatre of just 160 seats, with tickets given out by lottery to raise money for RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The run lasted three weeks in September 2017. Millions…
  • George VNear the end of his life in January 1936, King George V of the United Kingdom asked his secretary a question. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin later described the scene. Each time the dying king regained consciousness, he had some kind…
  • Edward VIIEdward VII was barely a month old on the 8th of December 1841 when he was created Prince of Wales. He would carry that title until the 22nd of January 1901, a span of 59 years and 45 days. No heir in British history had waited so long, and…
  • Anne, Queen of Great BritainQueen Anne of Great Britain went to her own coronation in an open sedan chair, because gout had left her unable to walk. The chair had a low back, so that her train could flow out behind her. The date was St George's Day, the 23rd of April…
  • George IIIGeorge III was born on the 4th of June 1738 at Norfolk House in St James's Square, London, two months too early. Nobody expected the baby to live, so a bishop baptised him within hours, on the very day he was born. The infant nobody…
  • Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
  • Alison WeirPublishers rejected Alison Weir's Henry VIII book for being too long, then her next for being too short.

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