The Story of the Elizabethans - 2020

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Pride before a fall

This contemporary portrait

shows Sir Walter Ralegh in his

prime – “a gorgeous, larger-

than-life figure”. Unfortunately,

many of his peers weren’t

impressed by his good looks and

saw instead an arrogant man,

blind to his own weaknesses

Mark Nicholls explains how

the celebrated Elizabethan

polymath fell foul of King

James and ended up

with his neck on the

executioner’s block