These heads, from the porch of the twelfth/thirteenth century church of Candes St Martin, between Chinon and Fontevrault, are thought to represent Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and date from c.

In some ways, Heloise is a very modern heroine, for in making her controversial choice to place her love for Abelard above all other considerations, she defied the conventions of society and the rules of the Church. Latterly, I have had a much happier experience working on Jean Anouilh's ‘Becket’, about to open in the West End. Having published seven books over a period of only ten years how did you become interested in history?In 1970, I was captivated by Abelard and Heloise, a West End play starring Diana Rigg and Keith Michell, which featured a controversial nude scene. We also read history simply because we want to know what happened in the past, and in some cases, wish to benefit from it, for by studying the past, we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future, or even make predictions for the future. Generally, I am not in favour of remakes - they rarely live up to the original - but I have no wish to damn this one out of court. In these, there is at least an attempt at authenticity, and a dramatic truth despite occasional inaccuracies.

Alison Weir has succeeded in bringing one of history's most formidable women to life once more to dazzle a new generation of readers. But I am loath to alter the facts themselves, and I should prefer it if the makers of historical dramas felt the same way. The book manages the neat trick of providing much food for thought while being a highly enjoyable read. This is the one to go for if you want to know more, but don’t want to to wade through a full biography. She was at once ‘powerful and modest, meek and eloquent, strong-willed yet kind, unassuming yet sagacious, qualities that are rarely to be met with in a woman’.Everswell, a conceit unique for its time that may have been modelled on the water gardens of the Norman kings of Sicily, was a secret retreat that would, in time, become associated with the most famous of Henry`s many mistresses, Rosamund de Clifford, with whom the King lived openly between 1173 and 1176. Henry VIII had six wives, for goodness sake, and beheaded two of them - isn't that drama enough, without inventing further scenes of gratuitous sex and violence?