Hello everyone and welcome to the history of England, episode 260, what do you believe?

So there I was sitting thinking about how I might keep things going and continue to earn a living by doing the thing I love more than anything else in the world, except Marmar Aiden, Buttert-Toson, a Sunday morning with the newspaper course, and the family, and I reflected.

It was difficult to listen to the same old voice we can and how ever good or how much you like that voice.

So I thought I should mix it up a bit. So in this episode I have tried to add just a couple of segments where I dress up the drama a bit with a bit of description and a spot of music and the odd effect here and there.

Now you might love this. We might hate it, we might simply have no opinion. Either way, let me know with you.

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Let me take you to London. The year is 1548. It's about a year before the chaos of the pre-book rebellion and the Commonwealth camps.

A 27-year-old man was hurrying towards London Bridge. He was well dressed without being flashy, a confident young man comfortable with his position and in control of himself already used to exercising authority and discretion.

The man's name was William Cecil, and on this warm, June morning, despite the gravitas he projected, he was worried. He had a mission and it wasn't an easy mission.

He passed by the church as St. Magnus the Marta, where a group of pilgrims from the south were offering prayers to the saint for their safe arrival at the great city and where once had stood the warmth of Roman London.

And then onto the bridge, through the great stone gateway and he began to walk past the high houses, shops and tenements that crowded on him from both sides.

Finding a way past the crowded pavements and avoiding the carts that rattled past him towards the city. Eventually, he stepped off the southern end of the bridge and into Sothec.

Sothec felt different, because once in Sothec, the power of the mayor and the city of London was lessened. Yes, they still administered the market.

The much of Sothec was owned by England's richest bishop, the Bishop of Winchester.

Cecil might have dowly noted to himself that Sothec could hardly be counted as a holy place. To his west, where he turned as he came over the bridge, was the liberty of the manner of clink.

Notorious for its stews, where you could get a bath and a bit more if you wanted to, the home of the bishop's infamous prison.

In fact, you could get pretty much whatever you wanted in the liberty of the clink, as it had recently become known,

bear baiting or bull baiting or plays, or indeed the attentions of the Winchester geese. They would face the danger of being bitten and ending up with the goose bumps.

And that was incurable back then. But Cecil ignored the calls and attractions and headed for the massive building that dominated the muddy riverbank, the palace of the Bishop of Winchester.

Because the object of Cecil's mission was the Bishop himself, the mighty Stephen Gardner.

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