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Charles Spencer

Biography

Charles Spencer

Charles Spencer is the author of seven history books, including Sunday Times (London) bestsellers THE WHITE SHIP: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream, BLENHEIM: Battle for Europe (shortlisted for History Book of the Year, UK National Book Awards), and KILLERS OF THE KING: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I. TO CATCH A KING: Charles II’s Great Escape was a Times (London) bestseller in 2017 and 2018. 

He also cohosts "The Rabbit Hole Detectives" podcast and has presented historical documentaries for television. He was awarded an MA in modern history from Magdalen College, Oxford University, before going on to work for the NBC News for a decade, as an on-air reporter for "Today," and a presenter for the History Channel.

Charles Spencer

Books by Charles Spencer

by Charles Spencer - Memoir, Nonfiction

A VERY PRIVATE SCHOOL offers a clear-eyed, firsthand account of a culture of cruelty at the school Charles Spencer attended in his youth and provides important insights into an antiquated boarding system. Drawing on the memories of many of his schoolboy contemporaries, as well as his own letters and diaries from the time, he reflects on the hopelessness and abandonment he felt at age eight, viscerally describing the intense pain of homesickness and the appalling inescapability of it all. Exploring the long-lasting impact of his experiences, Spencer presents a candid reckoning with his past and a reclamation of his childhood.

by Charles Spencer - History, Nonfiction

On August 18, 1648, the royalist garrison holding Colchester Castle surrendered and Oliver Cromwell’s army firmly ended the rule of Charles I of England. The rebels executed four of the senior officers captured at the castle. Yet still, the king refused to accept he had lost the war. As France and other allies mobilized in support of Charles, a tribunal was hastily gathered and a death sentence was passed. On January 30, 1649, the King of England was executed. This is the account of the 59 regicides, the men who signed Charles I’s death warrant.