After Kenneth MacAlpin started a new, Scottish dynasty in wake of a Pictish defeat to the Vikings, it was left to his brother, Donald I, to carry on where he left off. Donald seems largely to have done this but sadly the annals of history have not...

The new series starts properly in this episode as review our first monarch, Kenneth MacAlpin. After the leading Picts were wiped out by the Vikings in 839, Kenneth emerged from the murky past to take the throne of both the Picts and the Scots. But...

Rex Factor is back! After reviewing all the monarchs of England, now we turn our attention to Scotland. Before we get onto the kings and queens, however, we provide some background to the history of Scotland: stone houses, Hadrian's Wall, Vikings...

In the second part of our question and answers podcast, we continue to answer the questions sent in to us by the audience. Next time, we'll be back with a new series on the kings and queens of Scotland from Kenneth MacAlpin to James VI.

While we get ourselves prepared for the new series of Rex Factor (the Kings and Queens of Scotland), we invited you to send in any questions you have about us, the podcast, or history in general. We wanted to get through as many questions as possible...

Rex Factor will soon be returning for a new series reviewing all the Kings and Queens of Scotland but before we start the new series, we're going to have a Question and Answers podcast to bridge the gap. This is your chance to ask us any questions...

So, after four years we have finally reached the conclusion. The votes have all been counted, the results are in.We have reviewed all the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II and you have voted for who you want to win. In...

After four years reviewing all the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II we have reached the end - the Grand Final. The three contenders for the Rex Factor crown are Alfred the Great (the founding father), Henry II (the...

We're almost at the end - the Semi-Finals feature 9 of the 18 Rex Factor winning monarchs but after this just three will make it through to the Grand Final. Listen now to find out who is still standing, with sword held aloft, on the Rex Factor...

In the third and final semi-final, our very first monarch, Alfred the Great, is up against the two Edwards - grandfather and grandson, Edward I and Edward III. But who deserves a place in the final? Will it be Alfred for saving Anglo-Saxon England from...

Semi-Final B sees a fascinating mix of characters: the pious, all-conquering Saxon and first king of all England, Athelstan; the relentless, zealous, French-conquering hero of Agincourt, Henry V, and the vibrant splendour of a Tudor golden age in...

Things are hotting up now in the play-offs as we move on to the semi-finals. Semi-Final A is a real humdinger, with the top scoring monarch in Henry II up against two of the most iconic figures in Henry VIII and Queen Victoria. This time only one will...

Things get real in the play-offs as 9 of the 18 Rex Factor winners are eliminated from the competition. The results are revealed for Groups A, B and C in the first round - the scores from Ali, Graham and the combined votes of the public at large will...

In the last of the first round ties, Group C is a fascinating battle between medieval (William the Conqueror, Edward III & Henry V) vs. the modern (William IV, Victoria & George V). William conquered England after the Battle of Hastings, while ...

Group B is a heavyweight affair of empires and conquerors. Cnut, a Viking, is one of a very small number of leaders to have conquered England, as well as presiding over a North Sea Empire, Henry II established the Angevin Empire (England and the '...

So the play-offs finally begin. There are three rounds and in the opening round we have three groups of six, which for Group A consists of Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Henry I, Edward IV, Henry VIII & Charles II. In this episode, we look at all the...

After 67 episodes, three and a half years and numerous broken bones (all belonging to Ali) we have reviewed all the Kings and Queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II. We were left with 18 monarchs standing tall and proud atop the Rex...

After three years we finally complete the journey "From Alfred the Great to Elizabeth the Second" as in this episode we review the reign of Elizabeth II. Given that the Queen is still reigning, these are effectively provisional scores as we d...

The Queen was just 27 years old when she was crowned in 1953 and in this episode we look at her life and reign from 1953 to the present day - history becomes the present! This episode takes us from the glitz and glamour of the 1950s and her tour of the...

From Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II - as Rex Factor's journey through the monarchs of England reaches its close, we finally come to THE Queen! In the first of three episodes, we examine the biography of Princess Elizabeth up to and including her...

While Ali continues to recuperate from his bicycle injury, some Rex Factor fans have provided something to fill the audio void: History According to Ali. Trawling through every episode of Rex Factor, they have picked out some of Ali's best moments...

Unfortunately a nasty bike accident for Ali means that there's a bit of a delay in reviewing Queen Elizabeth II.I'm sure you'll all want to wish Ali well and if you want to send him a message then you can contact us in the following ways...

This week on Rex Factor we put right what once went wrong and step back 1,000 years in history to review England's first Viking ruler, Sweyn Forkbeard. Sweyn was the father of the legendary Cnut and the first Viking to be acknowledged as full king...

Having covered his life and reign, this week on Rex Factor we review George VI. Hear of his exploits serving in the battle of Jutland, doing his bit in the Second World War and stoically keeping calm and carrying on through speech impediment, ill...

After the shock of the Abdication Crisis in 1936, George VI came to the throne in less than ideal circumstances. And with a history of ill health, a stammer and an aversion to the limelight, George was perhaps less than the ideal future monarch....