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I am Thomas Cromwell in the court of the Tudors.

England is the country where I learned my profession. They are the ones that trained me, they are the ones that believed in me.

I have a degree in European history, which didn't necessarily have any direct impact on my career, but I'm grateful I studied something other than acting in college.

After college, I went to England and studied for a couple years.

My background is somewhat unusual, as I trained to be a ballet dancer. I worked in the theatre for eight or nine years as a contemporary dancer. But as an actor one does read Shakespeare and does try to learn the classics.

The notion of 'history from below' hit the history profession in England very hard around the time I came to Oxford in the early 1960s.

I always wanted to be a renaissance woman, do as many things as I possibly can and hopefully do them well or don't do them at all.

I was a protege; by the age of 10, I was studying with ballet choreographer Anthony Tudor in a class of adults.

I only know about a few things, but I am quite good at bluffing. There are a whole range of subjects, including the Renaissance, which I am prepared to sound expert on.