The Tudors Dynasty podcast.

Hello and welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Rebecca Larson, and I'm very excited to welcome back to the show.

Alison Weir. Welcome back, Allison.

Hi, Rebecca. Lovely to be back.

Well, it's been a while since you've been on the show, so I'm very excited to talk to you today about Woolsey.

Yeah.

He is such an interesting character.

And I'd like to say character, but obviously he's a historical figure from history.

But as a person, he is so intriguing.

So I think maybe what I want to start off with here is, first of all, why did you choose

him? And second of all, how do you decide between writing historical fiction and nonfiction

on people like him? Well, I was sitting at a launch party dinner when I launched my last novel,

last but one novel, with my agent and various

author friends. And Sarah Griswood, the historian and author, is a good friend. We were

tossing ideas around and she said, how about a book, The Cardinal, a novel of power? Well, I've been

discussing another idea with my agent, but I saw his face just

light up. And I thought, oh, that sounds such a challenge, but yes, I could see it working.

And I thought, oh, hell, because I haven't ever researched Woolsey directly. He's been

researched as part of another narrative, oh, another historical work. But I thought, no, this is going to be a challenge.

And what a challenge?

Because while Cromwell has become the sexy figure, let's say, of the Tudor England,

and before him, Sir Thomas Moore, we think of a man for all seasons,

...