Mike Loades - Host/Presenter

“If there’s a better way to bring 14th century history to life,
I haven’t seen it”
Radio Times- July 2004

Discovery Channel - Weapon Masters 2007

Mike is the co- host/presenter for this 10 part series for The Discovery Channel. Filmed in the USA, England, Germany, Denmark, Peru, Japan, India and China, it is due to air in 2008. See separate menu item for more details.

Channel 4 - Weapons That Made Britain 2004

Mike wrote and presented the 5 x 60 minutes series “Weapons That Made Britain” for Channel 4. He was also Associate Producer. The series was produced by Lion Television.

In his unique hands-on style Mike demonstrated and tested all the weapons, including shooting a bow whilst on horseback at the gallop and doing a piece to camera at the same time, throwing himself off a horse in full armour and getting to his feet and engaging in numerous fights.

“The enthusiasm of presenter, arms historian Mike Loades, is quite infectious”
The Guardian – July 2004

Each programme told the story of a battle in which the weapon was used significantly. Mike also traced the history of the weapon and met with craftsmen to see how it was made. He took groups of young people, trained them in the use of the weapon and demonstrated how it would be used in battle. In addition he undertook scientific tests of each weapon’s potential at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham.

“The series’ success was down to Mike Loades, the savvy presenter…Loades was the muscle that gave the operation thrust, the heart that kept the series beating.”
The Scotsman – August 2004

The Episodes - Sword: Bow: Lance: Shield: Armour

Sword: Looked at The Battle of Barnet. Tested the relative cutting and thrusting capabilities of a Viking sword, Norman sword, 15th century arming sword, falchion and 15th century Longsword. Tested the endurance capabilities of a man fighting in full plate armour.

Bow: Looked at the Battle of Crécy. Tracked the trajectory of an arrow with Doppler radar to measure the deceleration caused by drag on the arrow. Used this data to calibrate an air canon in the laboratory to simulate shooting the arrow at various ranges and then tested different types of arrowheads against armours of varying hardness. Timed a gallop for 300 yards on the battle site of Crécy, approaching the position where the Black Prince stood. Timed arrows per minute from crossbow and longbow.

Lance: Looked at the Battles of Lewes and Bannockburn. Rode against a quintain target faced with foam aluminium, using various types of lance in conjunction with grapers and lance stops. The impact data was used to calibrate a drop tower in the laboratory, which then tested various types of armour against equivalent impacts.

Shield: Looked at the Battle of Eddington. Had various types of shield constructed - flat, composite and convex composite, using wood and rawhide. Destruction tested them in the laboratory using sword, francisca, arrows and axe. Tested charging through ranks of shields on horseback – first a single rank of men and then massed five deep.

Armour: Looked at the Battle of Verneuil. Tested various samples of armour against sword, lance and bow in the laboratory. Armours consisted of leather curie, coat of plates, mail, munition quality plate armour and hardened steel plate armour. Tested falling from galloping horse in full plate armour and then getting to feet straight away.

"A ripping piece of experimental history…Mike Loades is a gutsy sort of presenter…very fancy"
Radio Times – July 2004