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BBC News
5 days ago
- BBC News
Why an archbishop's severed head is stored in a church in Suffolk
More than 600 years ago, Simon of Sudbury, a medieval politician and former Archbishop of Canterbury, met a violent end when he was brutally murdered by a mob of unhappy peasants in later the story of his savage death has been kept alive by St Gregory's Church, Sudbury, Suffolk, where his mummified head is on how did the skull of the high-profile cleric end up in a small, covered cubbyhole in a church vestry 67 miles away from where it was severed? Who was Simon Sudbury? Simon Theobald, as he was originally known, was born in Sudbury in and around 1316 before going on to study at the University of became a chaplain under Pope Innocent VI in 1352, before taking on roles including the Chancellor of Salisbury and the Bishop of London and served King Edward became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1375 and Lord Chancellor of England in 1380 – two significant roles he would fulfil until his death. Why was he killed? Sudbury was murdered during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, when he was ambushed at the Tower of London and beheaded by rebels unhappy with his role in introducing the third poll with the Lord High Treasurer, Sir Robert Hales, Sudbury was dragged to the chopping block by one of the revolt's leaders, Johanna Ferrour, after guards granted the peasants access to the being killed, his severed head was impaled onto a pole and placed on London Bridge for the public to see. Sudbury's body was taken to Canterbury Cathedral where it remains to this day. After six days of being on display in London, Sudbury's decapitated head was removed by the Lord Mayor of London, William was taken to his birthplace of Sudbury and reportedly identified by his brother, John of Chertsey, with whom he had founded a college in the head was given to St Gregory's Church, which Sudbury had helped partly rebuild. Today it is positioned behind a clear screen and a wooden flap in the Reverend Andrew Doarks told the BBC he got quite the surprise when he took on the church three years ago."It wasn't something that was on the job description and it's not something that comes up on the parish profile as it is known," he said."It's something you don't get at theological college... how to manage severed heads."I sometimes lose sleep and think, 'What if somebody was to run away with him?'" Mandy Turner, the treasurer at the church, said: "[Simon's head] is nicely hidden away and not obvious to anyone who walks by."We have been very lucky that we haven't had to do anything to it since it was put into the cubby in the wall – it has not deteriorated at all and is very well mummified."In fact, we had some mobile dentists working here and they were looking at the teeth and saying he is not bad for his age." Simon of Sudbury's skull is on display to the public by appointment only. "We get many visitors that come here to see the head, but others are taken by surprise, and they are not sure if they want to see the head or not," added Ms Turner."Some come because they believe they have a relationship with the Theobald family and others come just out of fascination."There's local people here who have never quite plucked up the courage to come and see it. But it is quite worth seeing and I actually find him quite friendly." Has the head ever been removed from the wall? The only time the skull has been removed from the wall was in 2011, when it was taken to West Suffolk Hospital for a CT scan so a lifelike bronze bust of Sudbury could be Caroline Wilkinson, who oversaw the project, said at the time: "The unusual thing was seeing the head in the hole in the wall in the church."I was expecting the bone to be a little bit more fragile, maybe a little bit crumbly, because this has been in the wall of a church for 600 years, but actually the bone is very sturdy."It doesn't look as if there's been too much damage."Mr Doarks said: "People call it a head because he has got a bit of vertebrate on the neck, an ear, and there are bits of skin still on him, so we call him Simon's head." The rest of Sudbury's body is buried in a tomb at Canterbury Cathedral, along with a cannon ball which is used in place of his head, as per a request in his to Ms Turner, the cathedral has asked "several times" for the head but St Gregory's Church "feel the head belongs" there."To us he has become what he was, a man of Sudbury, and that's why we particularly want to keep the head here," she said."The rioters of the Peasants' Revolt brought him back here to his brother, and he has been here ever since, so we feel this is actually where he belongs."Canon Andrew Dodd, the canon treasurer at Canterbury Cathedral, does not believe reuniting the body at this stage would be said: "It would be a very complicated thing to organise because the tomb is sealed and there is no intention of reopening the tomb at this stage."We're not quite sure why the head is [in Sudbury] and we have the body - it's a real mystery," he added. You can listen to BBC Radio 4 documentary podcast Don't Lose Your Head! on BBC Sounds Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Malay Mail
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
SST goldmine ignored as Bersatu hides backstage till GE kicks off
JULY 3 — Remember Margaret Thatcher. She beat the unions, Argentinians and male chauvinists in her party to leave her imprint on British politics far beyond her 11 years in office. However, the Iron Lady got beat by her enthusiasm for a new tax — the universally derided poll tax — in 1990. Two Universiti Malaya classmates were Johor menteri besar and education minister then, when Maggie had to go. They'd remember her well especially as she was in Kuala Lumpur for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting a year earlier. Then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad made a meal of it. A bit like the ongoing overexuberance for the Asean chairmanship. Anyways, fast forward 35 years, Anwar Ibrahim is prime minister, and Muhyiddin Yassin is the man yearning to beat him and assume his second term in office. Whether Muhyiddin is waiting for a telegram or email is uncertain, but his Bersatu and its coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) seem stuck in neutral. Unaware that an upgraded tax system has been unveiled, went 'live' two days ago, and is an unbearable bane for many on social media. Many in political parlance are great. Political parties are in the business of procuring votes. More so the many referred to here are in the millions. A large number of Malaysians are upset — though to be fair, it's rare for people to break into celebratory dancing when new taxes are introduced. What is not far behind is increases to quit rents for urban local councils. That'll add more to those already upset. Yet, the party expected to stalk the Unity Government appears to be sulking in corners unknown. Blue, not white: Bersatu the bridesmaid The worst kept secret in Parliament is that PAS, not Bersatu, controls the Opposition bench. However, Bersatu is expected to bring the legislative substance. But Bersatu only holds 25 MPs from 222 in the chamber. PAS has double the presence but prefers Bersatu to lead the coalition. Which damages both sides. PAS is not able to raise the bar at the federal level when leading four states. Bersatu, meanwhile, skirts around to champion issues they do care for and the ones PAS can live with. The SST is a clear matter which bisects both considerations, but indecision dogs both parties. PAS is dogmatic about how to go about issues, as in start-stop. It always reserves the right to change its mind. In the Pakatan Rakyat days (2009-2015), the coalition got bogged down constantly, its momentum squashed down because PAS asked for a pause if Umno invited it for a dialogue. Bersatu ducks SST backlash as tax pain spreads — but can silence win votes? — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri Bersatu, to begin with, is not Captain Action. But they both have convinced supporters, because the Islamists live off 40 years of dominant influence in religious education, and Bersatu relies on 70 years of institutionalised xenophobia — even if their targets were long ago promoted by citizenship — encouraged by Umno. Bersatu characterises themselves as the unblemished original Umno, not very different to Mel Gibson supported by traditionalist Catholics which feel today's Vatican is too woke, soft and given in to the modern world. PAS has its base. Secured and larger base to Bersatu's, which hopes their version of traditionalist Malays will win the day on election day. Bersatu are adamant to be Malay nationalists, unaware that's a misnomer. For a Malay nation is no more a proper destination since the formation of Malaysia. They were supposed to ascend to Malaysian nationalism, unfortunately they fell into the communalism-mutes-patriotism trap. On the day, they'll show up The Bersatu strategy, to use the term loosely, is to wait till general election day. That the mistrust of Umno, the mistrust of Umno working with DAP, the mistrust of PMX, the mistrust of Anwar's relationship with Zahid Hamidi and any number of mistrusts, fester to a point of unbearable pain till it irrevocably leads votes to them. That's a lot of hoping. It also renders obsolete the work of political strategists. Bersatu stands on the shoulders of ethnocentrism and PAS' durability to remain relevant but the water around them has risen with a changed landscape. In Peninsula, there are only that many Hulu Selangor and Bukit Gelugor to win reliant on Malay votes split three ways. The Umno-PKR bromance translates to a different proposition to Malays who have Malay-ness as a key vote consideration, as the choices are binary now. PN or Unity. Hulu Selangor and Bukit Gelugor look a whole lot harder to keep. Second, there is no PN in Borneo. All previous pretences have evaporated and Borneo has abandoned the Malay agenda. That is why the ownership of Malay reserve land, the status of Kampung Baru, the elevation of DAP in government and Chinese long-term residents in our cities, are the issues for now. The low hanging fruit in the Garden of Eden SST seems like a cat Bersatu struggles to skin. To foreign observers it may be a no-brainer but to one-trick-pony Bersatu, it sticks to Malay pride. The thing about the well-crafted, honed and nurtured race-before-all origins of Umno which Bersatu intends to inherit wholly is that it prohibits other offerings and imagination. To be tribal dismembers the ability to see beyond misgivings about British Malaya's demography. Bersatu's raison d'être disables its capacity to grow as a multipurpose driven opposition riding the issues of the day to be government. Umno was never good as an opposition bloc for the same reason. Look at its wilderness years between 2018-2020 till a Pakatan government collapse. Despite all the recriminations, Bersatu and Umno are no different. Except one is in government, and knows how to behave in it, and the other out of government and only knows how to be angsty about not being in government. That them not being in government means Malays are shortchanged. So, it remains myopic about cost-of-living issues permeating from the SST. Perhaps Bersatu sidestepping SST as a central campaign driver is a masterstroke. Perhaps this column is too liberal and worldly to truly comprehend the single mindedness of the Malay mind which Bersatu seeks to placate. Maybe. But that cow has not enough milk presently. The SST has a remarkable character, it hurts not on colour or religion. It affects all voters. That's a lot of voters. But then again, Bersatu is not built for all voters. It sells sentiments, not ideas. It thinks this is not Britain and PMX not Thatcher. Wonder what the sentiment is when they are proven wrong at GE16. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Winter fuel cuts could be Starmer's poll tax moment, warns Diane Abbott
Sir Keir Starmer's winter fuel raid risks becoming his poll tax moment, Diane Abbott has warned. The veteran Labour MP said the decision to remove the benefit from 10 million pensioners could prove as politically damaging as Margaret Thatcher's most controversial policy. It comes as Sir Keir faces a potential rebellion from more than 100 of his own backbenchers over separate cuts to the welfare budget. The poll tax was a forebear of council tax and proved catastrophic for Thatcher, sparking widespread rioting as well as dissent from her own cabinet ministers. Ms Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said in an interview on Wednesday that the winter fuel cuts introduced by Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, could not be justified. She told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'Everybody knows an old person, people think of old people as a vulnerable group, and it just wasn't worth it for the money that Rachel got out of it.' She added: 'I don't know you if you remember the poll tax with Mrs Thatcher. Mrs Thatcher did a lot of things which people didn't like but it's the poll tax that upset people.' Asked whether the winter fuel raid amounted to Sir Keir's own poll tax, she replied: 'It could be Keir Starmer's poll tax. And, you know, [Thatcher] tried to drive through the poll tax and she was gone within the year.' Pressed on whether the political damage had already been done, she replied: 'I think in some ways the damage has already been done.' Senior Labour figures have acknowledged the unpopularity of the winter fuel raid but insisted that the Chancellor had to take difficult decisions. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, admitted the policy cost Labour support in this month's Runcorn and Helsby by-election, which the party lost to Reform UK by six votes. Earlier this week, Ms Reeves appeared to open the door to reversing the controversial cuts, although Treasury sources later insisted that the current policy stands. The Telegraph understands that about 100 Labour MPs have put their name to a letter saying they cannot support the separate welfare reforms being pushed by Sir Keir and his Chancellor in their current form. Ms Abbott, one of the most prominent figures on the Left of the Labour Party, went on to suggest Sir Keir did not appear to believe in anything. 'He's done quite well with international stuff but basically he's a manager rather than a politician,' she said. 'And he's very good at being a manager but being a politician has got to be something else. And it doesn't seem quite to have the 'something else'. I could be wrong.' Noting that Sir Keir had only joined the party in 2014, she continued: 'He was director of public prosecutions, and then the next year he became an MP. 'So he hasn't come through the Labour movement and maybe that's why he doesn't appear to have a set of beliefs.' Sir Keir's recent crackdown on immigration, widely seen as a response to the rise of Reform, has prompted further criticism from Left-wing MPs such as Ms Abbott. Much of this has been focused on a speech in which the Prime Minister said recent levels of net migration were unsustainable and that Britain risked becoming an 'island of strangers'. Ms Abbott said the remarks had proven highly damaging for Sir Keir, arguing that while immigration was an issue his use of language had not been appropriate. She went on to claim it was 'very, very unwise' for Labour to attempt to 'steal Reform's clothes' as Sir Keir seeks to win over voters who have fallen in behind Nigel Farage's party. 'If you like Reform's type of hardline, anti-immigrant policies, you're going to vote Reform,' she said. 'Why are you going to vote for a second-rate copy?'
