Once again, despite my love of British history, the only thing that I seem to remember from my school days about King Alfred is that he was holed up somewhere in some sort of boggy terrain following a lengthy battle and, due to exhaustion had fallen asleep by a fire and managed to burn some cakes!

I can remember learning about King Richard III when I was but a “wee lassie” back in the late 1960s but the only thing I can really remember about him is that he was a strange looking bloke with a dodgy haircut, a hunch back and that he died in a battle back in the 15th century or thereabouts!

Some relics have been unearthed just by chance in a grave in Cumbria (Lake District) in the north of England. Believed to have been buried with an eminent abbot in the grounds of Furness Abbey, these relics are now to be shown to the public.