Gainsborough's 40 days as the capital of England

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Head back more than a thousand years to a moment in history that often surprises people: The winter when Gainsborough wasn’t just a town on the Trent, but the capital of both England and Denmark at the same time. Sweyn Forkbeard chose the town as his capital after overthrowing King Aethelred the Unready in 1013, but his reign lasted only a few weeks. A blue plaque still marks the spot, but the story of how Gainsborough found itself at the centre of a vast Viking world for those 40 days is far richer, stranger, and closer to home than you might think. Image: Getty.