Edward V was king of England for a few short months in 1483. He succeeded to the throne at the age of 12 following the sudden death of his father Edward IV, on 9th April 1483. Before his death, Edward IV had nominated his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Protector during the minority of his son; a decision that would prove a costly mistake.

On the 19th May 1483, the new king took up residence in the Tower of London, where, on 16th June, he was joined by his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. It was originally planned that in order to avoid the need for a protectorate, that the young king would be crowned quickly. Richard, however, repeatedly postponed the coronation.

On 22nd June, Ralph Shaa preached a sermon declaring that Edward IV had already been contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler when he married Edward V's mother Elizabeth Woodville, thereby rendering his marriage to Elizabeth invalid and their children together illegitimate. children of Richard's older brother George, Duke of Clarence, were barred from the throne by their father's attainder, and therefore, on 25th June, an assembly of Lords and Commons declared Richard to be the legitimate king. The following day he acceded to the throne as King Richard III.
 
Following Richard III’s ascendancy, it is reported that Edward and his younger brother Richard were taken into the "inner apartments of the Tower" and then were seen less and less until the end of the summer of 1483, when they disappeared from public view altogether. During this period Dominic Mancini, an Italian who visited England in the 1480s, records that Edward was regularly visited by a doctor, reported that Edward, "...like a victim prepared for sacrifice, sought remission of his sins by daily confession and penance, because he believed that death was facing him."

Edward and Richard's fate after their disappearance remains unknown, but the most widely accepted theory is that they were murdered on the orders of their uncle, Richard III.

This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

Ahoy ye scurvy dogs, there be just five days 'till Bricktastic! Join our crew this weeken' at Manchester Central (what was the GMEX) for one of this land's grandest and greatest LEGO shows!

Bricktastic be for the purpose of raising coin for our mateys at Fairy Bricks (registered charity 1161639) who be out to do one simple task, to give LEGO t' sick sprogs. It be a great and good cause that has bought joy t' thousands o' sick young 'uns – come 'n give yer support!!

We shall be thar wit' a brand new, ne'er seen afore model. Wha' be it? Ye should 'ave guessed by now! Go ter #WorkInProgressWednesday fer clues!

Yer can still get yer tickets on th' door, however t' avoid disappointment 'n t' speed thin's up, ye can book early at:

www.bricktastic.org

All are welcome, even landlubbers.

Last weekend we attended Awesome Bricks at Scotland’s National Museum of Flight. The show was attended by some of Scotland’s best builders with a strong showing from the Tartan LUG’s members. For those who wanted some hands on action there was also a brick pit, train tracks and other fun actives, including the construction of a massive brick-built Red Arrow!

Representing Brick to the Past was Dan Harris, who had along with him one of our Scottish models in the form of LEGO Corgarff Castle. Dan said:

“This was a great show last year and this year has been just as good! There were loads of superb models… I especially liked the Steampunk Pirates by Rod Gillies, the world needs more steampunk pirates. One of the really nice things about displaying here is that you’re displaying right among the exhibits… it creates a really immersive and enjoyable experience”.

Anyway, please enjoy this extremely amateurish video we’ve put together of the weekend and if you like extremely amateurish videos of LEGO, please subscribe to our extremely amateurish Youtube channel.

Hello everyone!

This weekend we’ll be at the totally awesome Awesome Bricks show at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Air Field in East Lothian.

Our model will have a distinctly Scottish flavour – the internationally travelled LEGO Corgarff Castle, last seen in Norway’s beautiful city of Trondheim. The museum is a great place for a show, because not only do you get to gawp at lots of awesome LEGO models, you also get to gawp at lots of awesome retro aircraft. Right, that’s enough of the word ‘awesome’.

Tickets cost between £9 and £14, while under 5s and National Museums Scotland Members go free! Remember, for the price you get access to the whole museum too, so this is a great value event!

Find out more and book your tickets at:

www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-flight/whats-on/awesome-bricks/

On this day in 793, Vikings raided the Anglo-Saxon monastery on Lindisfarne heralding the beginning of the Viking age.

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Edward the Elder (c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from October 26th 899 until his death on July 17th 924. He was crowned on June 8th 900 in Kingston upon Thames. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith.

Shortly after Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred, from who Alfred had inherited the throne of Wessex. Æthelwold seized the royal estates of Wimborne, symbolically important as the place where his father was buried, and Christchurch, both in Dorset. Edward responded by moving an arm, to the nearby Iron Age hillfort at Badbury Rings and Æthelwold thus paving the way for Edward’s coronation at Kingston upon Thames on June 8th 900.

In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and the following year he persuaded the East Anglian Danes to invade English Mercia and northern Wessex, where his army looted and then returned home. He was eventually met in battle at the Battle of the Holme, where he was killed, despite his Danish allies carrying the day. Thus ended Æthelwold's threat to Edward's throne

In 910 a Mercian and West Saxon army inflicted a decisive defeat on an invading Northumbrian army, ending the threat from the northern Vikings. In the next few years, he and his sister Æthelflæd, who had succeeded as Lady of the Mercians, conquered Viking-ruled southern England and by the end of the 910s only Northumbria remained under Viking rule.

In 924 Edward faced successfully quashed a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester, but died shortly after at Farndon in Cheshire on July 17th 924. He was succeeded by his eldest son Æthelstan.

Edward's eponym the Elder was first used in the 10th century in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold, to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr. His legacy is now generally regarded as successfully destroying the power of the Vikings in southern England, and laying the foundations for a south-centred united English kingdom.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On June 4th 1913, the suffragette Emily Davison was killed when she was struck by Geroge V's  horse at the Epsom Derby.

Since 1906 Emily had been a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which had been formed in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst. The Union felt strongly that militant and confrontational tactics were needed in order to achieve women's suffrage (the right for women to vote). During here activism, Emily was arrested nine times, went on hunger strike seven times and was force fed forty-nine times.

On 4 June Davison obtained two flags bearing the suffragette colours of violet, white and green from the WSPU offices. She then travelled by train to Epsom, Surrey, to attend the Derby, where she positioned herself at Tattenham Corner, the final bend before the home straight.

At this point in the race, with some of the horses having passed her, she ducked under the guard rail and ran onto the course; she may have held in her hands one of the suffragette flags. She reached up to the reins of Anmer—King George V's horse, ridden by Herbert Jones—and was hit by the animal, which would have been travelling at around 35 miles (56 km) per hour, Anmer fell in the collision and partly rolled over his jockey, Herbert Jones, who had his foot momentarily caught in the stirrup. The event was captured on three news cameras.

Those watching tried unsuccessfully to revive both Davison and Jones, they were carried off by ambulances to Epsom Cottage Hospital. Emily was operated on 2 days later but died on the 8th June from a fracture at the base of her skull. She received hate mail during here time there. 

Quiet why Emily Davison attended the derby at Epsom is unknown. Theories have been suggested, including that she intended to cross the track, believing that all horses had passed; that she wanted to pull down the King's horse; that she was trying to attach one of the WSPU flags to a horse; or that she intended to throw herself in front of one of the horses.

The contemporary news media were largely unsympathetic and many publications questioned her sanity and characterised her actions as suicidal. The WSPU were quick to describe her as a martyr, part of a campaign to identify her as such. On June 14th 1913 Davison's body was transported from Epsom to London; her coffin was inscribed "Fight on. God will give the victory." Five thousand women formed a procession, followed by hundreds of male supporters,

Davison's death marked a culmination and a turning point of the militant suffragette campaign. The First World War broke out the following year and so campaigning more or less came to a halt as attention turned to the war effort. However, support for the suffragettes grew and in 1918 The Representation of the People Act was passed. The Act allowed women over the age of 30 who could pass property qualifications, to vote.n 1928 the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act extended the vote to women over 21 to put them on equal terms with male voters.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British important events and people in British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On this day in 1944, the improved Colossus Mark 2 started working just in time for the Normandy Landings on D-Day.

The Colossus was the world's first electronic digital computer that was at all programmable. It was designed by Tommy Flowers at Bletchley Park, England to solve a problem posed by a mathematician, Max Newman. In December 1943 the prototype, Colossus Mark 1, was shown to work.  The computers were used by British code breakers, giving the Allies valuable intelligence obtained from reading many encrypted high-level telegraphic messages between the German High Command and their army commands.

By the end of the Second World War, there were ten Colossus computers in use.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.