A University of Aberdeen historian will appear on prime-time television tonight (Monday, September 27) when he features in the first of a series of programmes on Channel 4 to explore the harsh reality of medieval life.
Dr William Naphy, Senior Lecturer in the School of History, Divinity and Philosophy, was filmed by Channel 4 earlier this month for the World's Worst Century series, which debuts tonight at 9pm, with ‘ The Black Death' .
Dr Naphy is an internationally renowned author, with more than two dozen books and essays to his name, including Plagues, Poisons and Potions – Plague-Spreading Conspiracies in The Western Alps c. 1530-1640 , and The Black Death – which has now appeared in French, German and Polish editions.
His varied television and radio appearances at both national and local level over the past few years captured the attention of Channel 4 programme makers, who took Dr Naphy to London to interview him for the show.
After years of media interest, Dr Naphy, who is a Continental Historian, is well practiced when it comes to interviews. He said: “Speaking to a camera and microphone is considerably less stressful than lecturing to over a hundred students”.
The World's Worst Century series examines one of the worst times in history to be alive. The 1300s were an era ravaged by a plague that drove humanity to the edge of extinction. In 1347, The Black Death swept over Europe and in three years, over one third of Europe 's population died.
The symptoms were enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes, around arm pits, neck and groin, and the morality rate was 30-75%.
Victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness. Symptoms took from one to seven days to appear, and sufferers took a week to painfully die.
The Black Death was one of the worst human disasters in history and on tonight's show, viewers will see Dr Naphy exploring the spread of the great plague and its implications for the Europe of the Middle Ages.
He said: “Although the Black Death and the regular recurrences of the disease for the next three hundred years had a significant and appalling impact on Western Europe , the history of the plague is a monument to the resilience of humanity in the face of overwhelming adversity”.
Further information on the World's Worst Century series can be found at www.channel4.com.