"Will no-one rid me of this meddlesome priest ?!" muttered Henry II. He was talking about his one-time friend and Chancellor, Thomas Becket. Tragically, loyal servants took the king literally. The murder in 1170 of the Archbishop of Canterbury inside his own cathedral is one of the most well-known events in the history of England. The Daily Telegraph, in a review of John Guy's new biography, Thomas Becket says: "The greatness of Thomas Becket was that he cleaved to his principles ... [and] his example has endured, to be re-examined in this intelligent, confident and absorbing book."

For more on Thomas Becket.
For the feature film Becket.
For more on Henry II.
For T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.