Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Christmas was a bit of a ‘boar’ in Tudor days

© Burning Bright ProductionsA Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley.
A Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley.

Fans of popular TV historian Lucy Worsley are in for a festive treat, writes Craig Campbell.

On Friday on BBC2, Lucy will immerse herself in the food, music, dance and traditions of the 16th century.

A Merry Tudor Christmas With Lucy Worsley takes a look at the revelry that ran from December 25 to January 5 in the reign of Henry VIII.

Lucy learned some surprising facts.

“Many of the Christmas traditions that we observe today are surprisingly young,” she says.

“Christmas trees, Christmas presents and Christmas cards are all 19th century inventions.

“The spiced scent of Christmas is definitely an enduring tradition. You forget how much international trade there was.

“They had spices from Africa and the Indies and that lovely flavour of mince pies, mulled wines and Christmas pudding is still the scent of Christmas today.”

After preparing a feast fit for Henry VIII, the brave Lucy tried some wild boar’s head. It may not shock you to learn she didn’t find it lipsmackingly gorgeous.

“The boar’s head was gross!” she laughs. “It was pickled in brine and boiled in wine for hours with all the insides minced up and stuffed back in again.

“The Tudor cooks who made it were so proud. Sadly, they were disappointed that I thought it was disgusting to eat!”

Does Lucy reckon there are any Christmas traditions from those days that could work today?

“Twelfth Night is a festival that the Tudors celebrated but we don’t observe today,” she points out.

“For us, the end of Christmas is New Year’s Eve whereas the climax of the Tudor 12 days of Christmas was a big feast on January 5.

“I’d bring back the twelfth night party. It would be a lovely way to cheer up the worst week in January when we’re all back at work!”

Sounds like a plan! Any great Tudor traditions we do still follow? “Singing! Carols weren’t necessarily just about religion and Christmas – they were about generally having a good time.”



A Merry Tudor Christmas With Lucy Worsley is on BBC2, tonight at 9pm.