By Henry James for the Champion

Read original at: http://www.champnews.com/newsdetail.aspx?ID=GN4_ART_607510

THE English constitutional historian and a radio and television presenter David Starkey is to talk at Southport’s Atkinson on Friday, September 29 at 7.30pm on the title Henry VIII: The First Brexiteer?

In his talk Starkey will argue that the Reformation could be defined as the first Brexit, when his ministers devised the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty.

Starkey will draw on his unique knowledge of Henry’s reign to examine his tumultuous personal life, which pitted religion against politics as brutally as in our own age of Isis, through to the Grand Tourists who bought European culture with British money, all offering so very many parallels with the Brexit situation we find ourselves in today.

It is thought Starkey was taken to a boarding house in Southport after experiencing a nervous breakdown at school when he was a teenager.

Starkey specialised in Tudor history when he studied at Cambridge through a scholarship. His thesis at the University was on King Henry VIII’s household.

The historian is well-known for his appearances on radio and television, He first appeared on our screens in 1977 for Granada Television.

His two television documentaries The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were popular with viewers when they were shown on Channel 4.

Channel 4 paid him £2m in 2002 to produce 25 hours of television and this is when he produced Monarchy, which looked at English kings and queens.

Starkey is also a regular panellist on Question Time and he often has controversial views on current affairs.

Read original at: http://www.champnews.com/newsdetail.aspx?ID=GN4_ART_607510