The divorcing and beheading of queens, the sinking of the Mary Rose, the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots, and plots, intrigue and killings galore – all these things marked out the Tudor period as what David Starkey has dubbed “the most glorious soap opera”.

The UK’s leading constitutional historian, known for his forthright views, talks about the Tudor era, which he describes as a period “with the whole future of countries turning on what these huge personalities felt like when they got out of bed in the morning”, at Wyllyotts Theatre in Potters Bar next week. 

David Starkey is a Cambridge-educated grammar school boy who became a respected London School of Economics lecturer, a uniquely abrasive debater on Radio 4’s Moral Maze, a controversial contributor to Question Time, and the creator and presenter of many very popular historical TV series on such subjects as Henry VIII, Elizabeth l, the monarchy, the Churchills, and recently music and monarchy.

There are few more stimulating thinkers, and few who understand better the way the most powerful have thought throughout our history.

  • The Tudors and Us is at Wyllyotts Theatre, Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, April 26, 8pm. Details: 01707 645005, wyllyottstheatre.co.uk