This is the story of how the 14-year old King Richard II dealt with the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Previous rebellions against royal rule had come from the nobility. The Peasants’ Revolt was the first from the labouring classes. It was provoked by the lingering effects of the terrible ‘Black Death’, which had pushed up dramatically the size of wage demands, and the punitive levels of taxation imposed on the populace to pay for the wars against the French. The talk shows how the revolt developed leading to the twin assault on London by the men of Essex and Kent led by Wat Tyler and Jack Strawe demanding fair pay and rights to land ownership. It charts the rampage of the peasants through the City of London and other parts of the capital where the mighty John of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace was burnt down. The Tower of London itself was seized and the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord High Treasurer were taken out and beheaded. The young King was forced to agree to the Peasants’ demands. There was then a final confrontation between the King and the peasants at Smithfields. Here Wat Tyler overreached himself and was killed by the Lord Mayor and his entourage. King Richard then bravely assumed leadership of the peasants himself and they were safely dispersed. Whilst the agreement to the Peasants’ demands was not honoured by the middle of the 15th century medieval feudalism had all but gone and proper land ownership and pay for all had been established. The rest of the talk deals with the disappointing nature