The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. 'Wonderful This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times. William the Conqueror famously acquired for himself the throne of England but there were to be many st...

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. 'Wonderful.This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times. King Edward the Third was only fourteen years old when he succeeded to the throne of England in 1327....

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. 'Wonderful.This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times. The story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901...

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. 'Wonderful.This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times. After the death of Oliver Crowmwell, the Protectorate collapsed and parliament voted for the return of...

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. 'Wonderful.This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times. Britain was at the egde of the known world when, under the Emperor Claudius, the Romans brought to the...

A BBC Radio 4 "Book at Bedtime" recording of Samuel West reading from the novella The Aspern Papers by Henry James, set against the decaying grandeur of Venice. Originally broadcast 26 April - 4 May 2010. Henry James took as inspiration for his tale The Aspern Papers the story of a mistress of Byron's who outlived the poet into lonely old age. H...

First-hand accounts featuring the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain - one of the chief turning points of World War Two. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" - Winston Churchill The "Few" were the nearly 3,000 RAF pilots who fought against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, which rag...

Tim Pigott-Smith presents a unique audio snapshot of the history of the Twentieth Century. Released in ten volumes, Eyewitness provides a rare opportunity to hear the history of the 20th century described by those who were actually there. Tim Pigott-Smith weaves together fascinating reminiscences taken from the BBC archives - many previously unbroa...

Eyewitness provides a rare and fascinating opportunity to hear the events of the century described by those who saw them happen. A wealth of BBC archive recordings, some never previously broadcast, is interwoven with an illuminating commentary by the historian Joanna Bourke. Published in ten volumes, Eyewitness examines the role and the life of the...

Britain had the biggest empire the world has ever known. At one time a quarter of the global land mass was British. Over a third of the world was insured at Lloyds. At his coronation, more than 400 million people saluted George V. Truly, the sun never set on this historical phenomenon. Whatever the day, whatever the hour, somewhere on the globe, th...

Authentic voices from the past illustrate this unique history of the twentieth century, written by Joanna Bourke and presented by Tim Pigott-Smith. Eyewitness provides a rare and fascinating opportunity to hear the events of the century described by those who saw them happen. A wealth of BBC archive recordings, some never previously broadcast, is i...

Authentic voices from the past illustrate this unique history of the twentieth century, written by Joanna Bourke and presented by Tim Pigott-Smith. Eyewitness provides a rare and fascinating opportunity to hear the events of the century described by those who saw them happen. A wealth of BBC archive recordings, some never previously broadcast, is i...

Authentic voices from the past illustrate this unique history of the Twentieth Century, written by Joanna Bourke and presented by Tim Pigott-Smith. Eyewitness provides a rare and fascinating opportunity to hear the events of the century described by those who saw them happen. A wealth of BBC archive recordings, some never previously broadcast, is i...

A special compliation from Eyewitness, a unique history of Britain in the 20th Century, wirtten by Joanna Bourke and narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith. Eyewitness provides a rare and fascinating opportunity to hear the events of the century described by those who saw them happen. Published in ten volumes, Eyewitness examines the life of the British peop...

In this collection of digitally remastered recordings from the BBC archive we hear first-hand how, in 1940, Chamberlain resigned, Hitler invaded the Low Countries, and Winston Churchill was summoned to the greatest challenge of his long political career.

'On the face of it,' writes Lyn Macdonald, 'no one could have been less equipped for the job than these gently nurtured girls who walked straight out of Edwardian drawing rooms into the manifest horrors of the First World War ...' Yet the volunteer nurses rose magnificently to the occasion; in this audiobook they get a chance to tell their own stor...

Ten episodes from David Reynolds' award-winning radio series, which trace the history of the American Civil War. This narrative tells the story of the American Civil War through the voices of those who lived it. Written and presented by acclaimed historian David Reynolds, these extracts come from the series America: Empire of Liberty, which won the...

Melvyn Bragg goes back to his home town of Wigton in Cumbria to see how English is developing-and how dialects are still spoken. He meets townspeople from all generations and walks of life, from octogenarian horse-dealer Tommy Miller to local poet Mary Haslam, and finds that the old ways of speaking are being lost.

Where better than Hastings to look at the impact of the French on the English language? Melvyn Bragg goes to Hastings, where in 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold and invaded England. The actual fighting took place in the nearby village of Battle. It was to be the starting point of a long and intense relationship between England a...

Before cars and planes, railways and steam engines were the main form of transport. And in the early days the engine driver was the fastest man on earth, travelling at 60 mph (and much faster than a car). No wonder it was every schoolboy's dream to become the driver of a locomotive, even though it was dirty and dangerous work. Some boys went straig...

In this episode taken from the BBC Radio 4 series, Melvyn Bragg travels to the historic dockyard of Chatham to explore the life of a seaman in Nelson's navy. Our popular image of the 18th century sailor below decks is one of a downtrodden, press-ganged man who was a victim of regular beatings. While Bragg finds some evidence to support this view, h...