Episode one: Seeying the Worlde


Before Tudor times the image people had of their world was, well, rather dark and mysterious, but that was about to change thanks to some incredible adventures and remarkable discoveries.
    —Adam Hart-Davis


Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Tudor Age in art, optics and exploration.


* Wad (graphite) discovered by shepherds in the mid 1500s was used as the first pencil leading to life drawing and realistic portraiture.

* The lens was added to the camera obscura by Giambattista della Porta in Natural Magic leading to fine arts and the first cinema.

* Mainland North America was discovered by John Cabot and possibly named after his investor Richard Americ.

* The first atlas (flat map) was drawn by Gerardus Mercator using the Mercator projection demonstrated by Hart-Davis.

* The first British colony in America was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh at Roanoke opening the new world to the Tudors.

* The perspective glass invented by Leonard Diggs and demonstrated by Hart-Davis may have been the first telescope.



Enjoy and Seed!!