Interesting BBC programme on the Royal Navy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00q3l9k
It's a bit gung-ho, admittedly, but at least the presenter acknowledges that the Elizabethan adventurers Hawkins and Drake were slave traders. Not many people know that - and they should.
Lovely photography of beautiful scenery and handsome replica ships - and rather too many lingering shots of the undeniably handsome presenter, historian Dan Snow - but as an overview of the Navy from Queen Bess to William of Orange it is quite good. He is very good on Pepys and his reorganisation of the Senior Service. Though I suspect that anyone who knows more than the basics of the history of the Royal Navy will find it rather light. History-as-entertainment, but Snow doesn't pretend it's anything else.
Take a look, see what you think.
It's a bit gung-ho, admittedly, but at least the presenter acknowledges that the Elizabethan adventurers Hawkins and Drake were slave traders. Not many people know that - and they should.
Lovely photography of beautiful scenery and handsome replica ships - and rather too many lingering shots of the undeniably handsome presenter, historian Dan Snow - but as an overview of the Navy from Queen Bess to William of Orange it is quite good. He is very good on Pepys and his reorganisation of the Senior Service. Though I suspect that anyone who knows more than the basics of the history of the Royal Navy will find it rather light. History-as-entertainment, but Snow doesn't pretend it's anything else.
Take a look, see what you think.