Tudor History Lovers discussion
Tudor Themed Movies/Shows
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Inside the Body of Henry VIII
I will have to search this one out!
I searched, it will be back on NATgeo in the US the 20th... but I don't get the channel :( and Netflix does not have it yet either. I did put in queue for The Madness of Henry VIII, anyone seen that?
Heather - Thanks for the info. I was going to check the TV, but forgot. Funny - I put The Madness of Henry VIII in my queue too!
wow how interesting tho the thought of his rank body which he detroyed over time does gross me out a bit.. mght see if i can find this on the internet
Does it go into what kind of STD's he may have contracted? My husband recalls reading he had syphilis and that contributed to him going mad.
I'd really like to see this. I'll keep an eye out for it on Netflix or iTunes.Heather and Jayme -- I've heard that he had syphilis, but several historians I've read lately discount it. Some of his "medical records" are still extant (mostly just a listing of what the doctor gave him), and none of them include the typical treatments for the disease. I don't know much about the symptoms, but apparently he lacked many of the major ones.
The program addresses syphilis, but I will let you watch to see their conclusion.I watched a preview on YouTube, which gave me a good idea as to what I was going to be watching. That site has many Henry Videos.
Youtube does? I will have to check that out... whenever I type anything in all I get is The Tudor's, or those song dedications with video clips and pictures.
Try putting in: inside the body of henry viii / youtube.It came right up for me.
I watched this as well and thought it was very interesting. Even my husband sat down to watch it!
I think I watched part of it on youtube. It did talk about H8's diseases and how he had diabetes and he ate like 5000 calories a day
Although they did talk about some of his injuries and how he was quite probably in frequent pain (head injury, leg injury etc), in addressing the change that took place in Henry's personality and how he became less tolerant, more cruel, a "tyrant" etc, one thing they did not mention was the affect that being in pain all of the time has on someone. As someone who has suffered from constant pain in the past, it can wear on you and make you a not very nice person. When I was contemplating surgery 11 years ago to hopefully make mine go away, my eight year old daughter told me that I had to have it so I would quit being so mean all the time (my husband put it in quite different terms!). I didn't even realize the effect the pain was having on me, but that almost broke my heart.They did mention that one of the head injuries Henry suffered while jousting may have impacted the part of the brain that affects personality and mood.
Tanzanite, that totally makes sense about a possible head injury. And the pain definitely would have an affect on someone after time. I'm sure that didn't help his disposition at all. I have watched The Madness of Henry VIII and found it extremely disappointing. It didn't give any new insight and in fact it took some things out of context. I know Colleen didn't find it very enlightening either.
ALy - I will scratch the Madness of Henry VIII. I finally watched this and I have a few thoughts.
First - I thought it was really interesting to see Robert Hutchinson and hear him talk since he is the author of one of our past group reads.
Secondly - I realize they only had an hour for the show, but I thought they really skimmed over a lot of things. My husband sat down and watched it with me and, as he is not Tudor obsessed as I am, he really didn't get much out of it.
I do agree with their assessment of a head injury as frontal lobe damage is well documented to have a profound effect on personality. I agree with Tanzanite, too, though, that chronic pain can really wear on you and make it hard to deal with the everyday world. I would imagine in Henry's case, the combination of the two would have a profound affect on his attitude.
I was glad to see them mention diabetes. I have been thinking, as I read about him and watch shows, that a lot of his symptoms seemed to indicate diabetes, so I would probably be on board with them on this.
As for syphilis, I'm not sure about my thoughts on that. I know it was really prevalent at the time, but sometimes I think it is the "disease of choice" for people trying to figure out what was wrong with historical figures.
Did anyone else notice that they indicated that Henry broke with the Catholic Church in order to "avoid asking the Pope for a divorce from Katherine of Aragon". I have to admit, my ears really perked up on that one!
That's an interesting way of putting it.
I just watched "The Madness of HVIII" and was somewhat disappointed. I felt I didn't get much from it and actually dozed in parts. I was also disappointed that ALL of the people they interviewed were American. I know it possible any culture to obsessed with the Tudor court, as I am American and can't get enough. But you would think there would be somewhat more of an expertise throughout British historians. My reasoning for thinking this is my basic history classes in high school taught me very little. I was so shocked the first time I picked up "The Other Boleyn Girl" and feel it has opened up a window in my mind. So I would imagine, most American's are in the same boat and do not know a lot of basic world history....
Heather, it really disappointed me too. I gave it one star off of Netflix. and I would have to agree with your assessment that a lot of Americans don't seem to know basic world history!
Heather and Aly - thanks for your thoughts on this one. I think that I will not bother with it after reading both of your comments. As for Americans and world history, luckily both my sons learned a lot of world history from the 6th grade on. I'm sorry your experience wasn't the same, Heather.
Luckily I had world history when I was growing up too!! It amazes me though how many people I'm in college with (my minor is history) that don't know some basic things like Columbus!!! It's really sad!
I took World History in high school and I got a Freshman Honors award for it.
thanks, we had a strange, quirky teacher. I didn't even know I was up for the award.
Aly wrote: "Heather, it really disappointed me too. I gave it one star off of Netflix. and I would have to agree with your assessment that a lot of Americans don't seem to know basic world history!"I was not impressed with that one, I waited forever for it to be avaliable via netflix too so the disapointment was double there.
I totally agree it is absurd how American schools don't go into world history beyond WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and even then it is minimal at best. Our education system sucks.
Colleen, Welcome back!! Was your above comment referring to the Inside the Body show or The Madness of Henry VIII?
Lyn, Madness of Henry VIII.Lyn and Aly, thanks for the welcome backs! I am so happy to be talking Tudor with you all again! I owe so many letters, lol but darn it.
Ya, if I don't get one soon, I am going to cross you off my Christmas list, LOL.
Thought you guys would be interested in Henry VIII's Mega Structures (Lost Worlds) on the History International Channel Sunday the 26th.
Excellent. Thank you. I'm hoping for Nonsuch.
I actually bought that episode on iTunes last year. It was pretty cool. I'm sorry Susanna, i don't remember Nonsuch being in it. :(
Inside the Body of Henry VIII is on again, Jan 25th, 2011 at 9PM Texas time on the Nat Geo channel.. Looking forward to it!
Good to know. Thank you Marie. Setting the DVR now.
Right before Henry, there's a show about Elizabeth I.
Thanks Tammy. Set my DVR for that also.
Whoo hoo! DVR is set for both programs tonight!
Thank you, Marie! I missed this last time and was so bummed about it.
Thank you Marie I just set my DVR!
Did anyone watch the Elizabeth special that preceded Henry's Body? I had heard most of those conspiracy theories about her secrets, except for the one about her dying as a youth and being replaced by a boy with similar features. Thoughts?
I missed them both last night (watched the last hockey game before the all-star break). They will both be airing again Feb 1: Elizabeth at 4 pm and Henry at 5 pm (both times listed as Eastern)
I hope to catch them then.
I remember reading an article some time ago that proposed adult onset diabetes as a possible cause of some of Henry's problems. Particularly the leg sore that would not heal properly. I think it is an interesting theory. I would really love to see this show. I will have to hunt it down.
I think the diabetes theory is pretty likely, considering his probable diet, yeah.
I did get a chance to watch this last night and it was really interesting. I didn't know that Robert Hutchinson was one of the researchers for this show!They did talk about his poor diet most likely causing his leg ulcers to not heal and even went to the market and bought the food he would have eaten in a weeks time; almost 500 Brittish pounds (money wise, lol) worth of food! Lots of sugar, white bread, red meat, no veggies. He did die at 400lbs and ate poorly and according to the special he ate 13 times a day (wow).
Anyways, this is a really interesting special. Very detailed and goes into the theories of his health problems.
Julie wrote: "Did anyone watch the Elizabeth special that preceded Henry's Body? I had heard most of those conspiracy theories about her secrets, except for the one about her dying as a youth and being replaced..."I watched it this evening. Most of what they talked about was new to me. I haven't gotten too far into researching Elizabeth except for watching two movies about her. The secrets they discussed were pretty interesting.
I did see this on youtube. Fascinating stuff. His innards must of been vile though.
Julie wrote: "Did anyone watch the Elizabeth special that preceded Henry's Body? I had heard most of those conspiracy theories about her secrets, except for the one about her dying as a youth and being replaced..."I have heard somewhere that people use to call her a changeling when she was a child. Cant recall where.
^ I've heard that a few times too. I've also heard that people said she was the 'spitting image' of Mark Smeaton, the one who actually 'confessed' (after henious bouts of torture) to an affair with Anne Boleyn. I find this preposterous, they were probably only trying to besmirch her mothers name more foully, she has HVIII's complexion and Anne's eyes and nose, she is the one of the 3 children of Henry VIII who looks most like him.
This documentary btw (Inside the Body) is absolutely fascinating, it would be awesome if they had taken a sample from his ACTUAL body though, although I doubt they would have been able to get the authority to do that.
The show traced Henry's health from robust young man to ravaged adult, including infections, diseases, accidents, overindulgence, and physician's errors. It was concluded that after the jousting accident his personality changed and he became a paranoid tyrant.
Interesting theory.
This program was well written and well documented. I recommend watching it.