A prominent British historian says the nation's education system was better under the 1509-1547 rule of Henry VIII than in the present day. Historian and TV presenter David Starkey said at the annual Brighton College education conference that Henry VIII's Britain featured more well-rounded education and more competent government than the Britain of today, the Daily Mail reported Friday. Our education system, it seems to me, has been taken over to a desperately dangerous extent by the worst examples of narrow-mindedness and bean-counting, Starkey said. It is very striking that the Tudors did not believe that and I would put forward a modest proposition that we were very much better governed by Henry VIII than we are by King Gordon, he said, referring to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I am being serious.

An exhibition that uses digital technology to virtually restore a tapestry that once belonged to King Henry VIII is to open in London. The BBC said beams of light are being employed to help bring out the original colors of the 16th century monarch's faded fabric artwork from the Story of Abraham Series.