August 22nd marked the 380th anniversary of the day King Charles I declared war on Parliament in 1642. He raised his standard at Nottingham Castle. It blew down overnight.
The English Civil War – which I like to think of as Brexit with swords – was the undoing of the poor King. But it was the making of 22-year-old Marchamont Nedham (1620-78), the Piers Morgan of the era.
Nedham (it’s pronounced Needham despite the spelling), an Oxford graduate who tried teaching, the law and medicine before being
