The Early Music Show

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Music: Classical: Early Music

Performance and news from the world of early music.

An exploration of early music, looking at early developments in musical performance and composition in Britain and abroad. UK only: please note that not all episodes are podcast.

The Early Music Show: John Blanke's England

The City of Antwerp

John Blanke's England

BBC Radio 3 - The Early Music Show, John Blanke's England

Lucie Skeaping uncovers the life of John Blanke, King Henry VIII's black trumpet player.

Lucie Skeaping uncovers the life of John Blanke, King Henry VIII's black trumpet player, in conversation with expert on diversity in Tudor England, Dr Onyeka Nubia.

John Blanke was a trumpet player of African descent employed by the English Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII in the early 1500s.  He's the only black person of the Tudor period for whom we have both a name and a picture – in the Westminster Tournament Roll of 1511, currently on display at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool – but he was by no means the only person of African heritage living in England at that time.  Lucie Skeaping uncovers the life and world of John Blanke and the music he would have known, in conversation with expert on diversity in Tudor England, Dr Onyeka Nubia.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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