RENOWNED historian David Starkey will be talking about 'the first Brexiteer' Henry VIII in Wimborne next week.

An expert in Tudor history and a current affairs commentator once described as the 'rudest man in Britain', Starkey won popular fame with a series of television documentaries including The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Monarchy.

He is also a leading commentator on modern politics, a regular guest on the BBC's Moral Maze and on Question Time, and whether it’s Magna Carta or Cromwell’s Protectorate, he’s never afraid to remind today’s politicians of the lessons of history.

Once named 'Defender of the Faith' by the Pope for an early tract hostile to nascent Protestantism, Henry VIII eventually came to reject papal authority, cutting England away from the mother church in the continent, to the dismay of many loyal English Catholics.

A spokesman for the theatre said: "On October 30, the day in 1534 that Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy to make Henry VIII head of the Church in England, David Starkey will be in Wimborne to consider its significance on the world of today.

"Henry VIII is the only king whose shape we all remember. Like a colossus, he bestrides the history of our country. He invented the idea of British uniqueness, in fact, the Reformation could be defined as the first Brexit, when his ministers devised the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty.

"In this talk David Starkey draws on his unique knowledge of Henry’s reign to examine his tumultuous personal life, which pitted religion against politics as brutally as in our own age of ISIS, through to the 'Grand Tourists' who bought European culture with British money, all offering so very many parallels with the Brexit situation we find ourselves in today."

The talk takes place at the Tivoli Theatre on Monday from 7.30pm. For tickets call 01202 885566 or visit tivoliwimborne.co.uk