Over the past 200 years, Dick Whittington has become one of Britain’s best-loved pantomime heroes. Yet, as today’s long read explores, the real-life story that inspired Dick’s rags to riches tale is even more remarkable than the fiction. Based on his interview with author Michael McCarthy, Jon Bauckham considers how this fascinating medieval merchant morphed into an icon of the stage.

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HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the October 2023 issue (you can read it here) and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Authors

Jon BauckhamProduction Editor, BBC History Magazine

Jon Bauckham is the Production Editor of BBC History Magazine and previously held the same role on BBC History Revealed. He is responsible for writing, editing and proofreading content, and ensuring that the magazine goes to press smoothly each month. When he’s not poring over pages with a red pen, he can be found recording episodes of the award-winning HistoryExtra podcast, chatting to authors about subjects ranging from Lord Kitchener to Russian pianos

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