Dan Jones

speaker

253 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 11 Jun

Dan Jones’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.

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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford · Presenting...This is History: A Dynasty to Die For · 11 Jun 2026 podcast

The old Queen of England, Margaret of Anjou.

An ill and tired 60-year-old shuffles towards the chopping block.

An expectant crowd gathers around.

They've all made it to Tower Hill, the area immediately surrounding the Tower of London.

It's London's top spot to go and see a lively show, assuming you're into public executions.

In late February 1462, it's John de Vere's turn.

The Earl of Oxford has been around the political scene in England for decades.

But it's a wonder the guy hasn't already died from a bad case of splinters in the backside, given how much of his life he spent sitting on the fence.

For most of the wars between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, Oxford avoided committing to either side.

Then, with incredibly bad timing, just before the Battle of Towton, he did pick a team.

And unfortunately, it was the wrong one.

He went for Queen Margaret and King Henry.

And that decision has now come back to haunt him.

Oxford survived the accession of the new king, Edward IV, but he forgot to update his settings to political reality.

Having chosen the Lancastrian side, he stuck with it and got himself caught up in a web of intrigue aimed at bringing down the new king.

The plot that Oxford's got himself mixed up in has more moving parts than a swingers party,

The schemers include a hotchpotch of exiled Lancastrian aristocrats.

They're backed with varying degrees of seriousness by foreign royals, including the rulers of Scotland, France, Brittany, Aragon, Portugal and Denmark.

Putting it all together is Queen Margaret of Anjou, who's been shuttling between Scotland and the courts of Europe, trying to whip up support for a comeback for her and old King Henry.

Yorkist propaganda accuses Margaret of wanting to destroy the realm, to pervert the royal succession and bring robbery and vengeance.

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