Ivan the Terrible

Greg Jenner is joined in medieval England by Professor Marion Turner and comedian Mike Wozniak to learn all about Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales. Since the fifteenth century, Chaucer has been referred to as the father of English literature. He was one of the fir ...  Show more

Greg Jenner is joined in twentieth-century America by Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins and comedian Desiree Burch to learn all about singer and Hollywood actress Lena Horne. Born into a middle class Black family in New York, a young Lena Horne soon followed in the footsteps of her ...  Show more

The name Ivan the Terrible is synonymous with brutality and ruthlessness. While Western scholars insist that the first crowned Tsar of all Russia did create a policy of mass repression and execution, others claim Ivan’s name has been tarnished by Western travellers and wr ...

Ivan Vasilyevich the Fourth was crowned Grand Prince of Muscovy at 3 years old after his father died. After a traumatic childhood of chaos and coups, Ivan would crown himself the first Tsar of Russia and go on to create the Russian Empire. The first half of his reign would have m ...  Show more

After the death of his beloved first wife, Tsar Ivan the Terrible descended into madness and paranoia. He turned his hatred and fear against his own people dragging the empire he had built with his own hands down into poverty and despair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p ...  Show more

Subjected, downtrodden, brutalised. The principality of Muscovy had long suffered at the hands of the Mongols. But as their overlords weaken, their ruler, Ivan the Great, begins to lead the Muscovites to freedom. Come 1533, it is time for his descendant, Ivan the Terrible to rule ...  Show more