5ive Guys FC

82ASK

A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

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Clive Myrie

Clive Myrie presents a powerful four-part series documenting the events leading up to, surrounding and following the assassination of Martin Luther King - told by the people who were there. In 1968, Dr King was in Memphis to support a strike by the local sanitation workers, campaigning under the slogan "I Am A Man”. For the first time, those workers and their families tell their own stories, laying bare in often shocking detail the realities of the Civil Rights struggle in the Southern states of the US.In this compelling documentary series, we hear first-hand of the daily humiliations of the Jim Crow South, of the hope that Dr King brought and of the fallout from his death. Presenter Clive Myrie takes us on a journey to better understand the mistakes, the triumphs and what that era means for Memphis today.This immersive listen features testimony from a teacher arrested on a daily basis for attempting to break the colour bar in Memphis restaurants. We hear from a man who at six was the first black child in Memphis to attend a white school. A sanitation worker describes how he was beaten daily by police and too scared to go to hospital to have his wounds healed. Why did he strike? Because ‘they wouldn't treat me like a man’.This oral history features the music that was the soundtrack to the struggle, from Booker T., Chuck Berry, Quincy Jones, Dinah Washington, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix.Written and presented by Clive MyrieFirst Broadcast BBC Radio 2, 28th March - 18th April 2018©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

I Have a Dream

Memphis and Martin Luther King

Mark Steel

Radical comedian Mark Steel takes a sideways look at some of the most tumultuous moments in history 
 
Mark Steel turns his analytical mind to the theme of revolutions in these six entertaining lectures, examining some of the major historical forces at work and holding up a mirror to our own age. 
 
In these entertaining lectures, he reinterprets the French Revolution, examining everything from the storming of the Bastille to the guillotine; looks at the politics of the sexual revolution (taking in the pill, the women’s movement and the Stonewall riots); and assesses the motivating factors and key players in the Russian Revolution – including the Romanovs, Rasputin and the Red Guard. 
 
He also explores how the Industrial Revolution transformed our perception of time, work and money; argues that the American Civil War was not just a rebellion but a full-blown revolution; and shows how Darwin’s revolutionary theory of natural selection was so shocking, he kept it quiet for 20 years for fear of a backlash... 
 
With readings by Martin Hyder and Carla Mendonça and witty comic sketches, this amusing, informative series is packed with fantastic stories, extraordinary characters and fascinating historical facts. 
 
Written and presented by Mark Steel 
With Martin Hyder and Carla Mendonça 
Produced by Phil Clarke 
 
Contents: 
The French Revolution 
The Sexual Revolution 
The Russian Revolution 
The Industrial Revolution 
The American Civil War 
The Theory of Evolution 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 June – 4 August 1998 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Mark Steel Revolution

The BBC Radio Comedy Series

Michael Portillo

Specially selected history series presented by Michael Portillo, exploring the most significant events before, during and after the First and Second World Wars 
 
Journalist and broadcaster Michael Portillo has always been fascinated by the past. A former politician and history graduate, he has presented several TV documentaries, including Portillo's Empire Journey and Great British Railway Journeys. Now, in these fascinating radio programmes, he turns the spotlight on World War One and Two, examining the cultural, political and economic upheaval surrounding these devastating global conflicts. 
 
1913: The Year Before sees him challenging the notion that the Great War was responsible for seismic shifts in British society. Over 10 episodes, he looks at themes including the suffrage movement, the Irish question, the decline of the liberal party and the arts, and argues that to a great extent, Britain was already in the process of transforming itself by 1913. 
 
The 2-part series The Great War of Words finds Portillo revealing how our understanding of World War One has been distorted by historians, politicians and cultural commentators. He analyses Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium in August 1914, showing how it transformed Britain's war into a moral cause; and considers how arguments over the origins of the war and the issue of war guilt evolved into a fierce, high-stakes battle for meaning. A follow-up episode, The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation?, centres around the factors that prevented peace breaking out between 1914 and 1918, and the attempts that were made to achieve it. 
 
In four episodes from Things We Forgot to Remember, he delves into the First World War and the interwar years, reflecting on the Somme and the victories of 1918, the failings and successes of the League of Nations, the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin and Neville Chamberlain's notorious 1938 declaration of 'peace for our time'. 
 
The aerial bombardment of Britain is the subject of The Blitz, in which Portillo chairs a discussion with leading historians about the strategy and legacy of Nazi Germany's decision to bomb and destroy key British cities. And in a concluding programme, Things We Forgot to Remember: Morgenthau Plan and post-war Germany, he recalls the short-lived precursor to the Marshall Plan, which aimed to destroy German industry and turn the country into an agrarian 'pastoral' society. 
 
Production credits 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
1913: The Year Before 
The Long Summer 10 June 2013 
Women's Rebellion 11 June 2013 
The Irish Question 12 June 2013 
The Tides of War 13 June 2013 
Cultural Upheaval 14 June 2013 
Labour Relations & the Triple Alliance 17 June 2013 
Poverty 18 June 2013 
Politics and the Tory Gamble 19 June 2013 
The Empire 20 June 2013 
The Great Change 21 June 2013 
Produced by Tom Alban 
 
The Great War of Words 
Episode 1 4 February 2014 
Episode 2 11 February 2014 
The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation? 28 April 2015 
Produced by Mark Burman 
 
Things We Forgot to Remember 
First World War 4 December 2006 
The League of Nations 15 December 2008 
Jesse Owens and the Nazi Olympics 22 November 2010 
Chamberlain and 'Peace for our Time' 1938 14 December 2009 
Morgenthau Plan and post-war Germany 4 June 2012 
Produced by Tom Alban, Joanne Cayford and Neil McCarthy 
 
The Blitz 8 September 2010 
With Juliet Gardiner, Sir Ian Kershaw and Terry Charman 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Michael Portillo: On the World Wars

A BBC Radio History Collection

Tim McGarry

David Hume

Comedian Tim McGarry and Orangeman Dr David Hume investigate Irish history from different perspectives 
 
'We're basically the Little and Large of Irish history' Tim McGarry 
 
Tim McGarry and Dr David Hume couldn't be less alike. Tim's a six-foot-four funnyman from Belfast, while David's a vertically challenged historian from Ballycarry. But although they disagree about almost everything, they have a great rapport and a passionate interest in their native island - and in this fascinating series, they join forces for some good-natured, intelligent debate about Irish history, politics and culture. 
 
Travelling the length and breadth of Éire and Northern Ireland, they visit important historical sites, gain new insights into pivotal stories and people, and interview a wide range of experts to give listeners the long and the short of it. Mixed in with the discussions are humorous sketches, bringing the history alive and providing light relief. 
 
Over 41 episodes, Tim and David lock horns and trade blows over controversial topics including the 1798 Rebellion, the Great Famine, the Battle of the Boyne, the birth of the Orange Order, the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, and Home Rule. They also consider Ulster heroine Mary McCracken, ask whether renowned figures such as Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Edward Carson and James Craig were heroes or villains, and wonder whether the Vikings and Oliver Cromwell were really that bad. Plus, in the 2-part special The Long and the Short of Christmas, the duo unite to take a light-hearted but scholarly look at the history of the festive season, from the birth of Jesus to modern times. 
 
Winner of the Gold Award for Specialist Speech Programme at the 2021 IMRO Radio Awards, this wry, engaging and eye-opening series is full of jokes, facts, opinions - and arguments. Irish history has never been so much fun! 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Tim McGarry and Dr David Hume 
Produced by Zoe Robinson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster & BBC Radio Foyle on 20 July-10 August 2014 (Series 1), 19 July-23 August 2015 (Series 2), 6 November-4 December 2016 (Series 3), 3 December 2017-7 January 2018 (Series 4), 9 May-13 June 2020 (Series 5), 24-25 December 2020 (The Long and the Short of Christmas), 24 April-29 May 2021 (Series 6), 27 August-1 October 2022 (Series 7). 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Long and the Short of It

A BBC History of Ireland

David Miles

Caradoc Peters

Melanie Giles

Nicki Howarth-Pollard

Menna Elfyn

Ilka Tampke

David Greig

Ron Hutton

Miles Russell

Mandy Haggith

Sarah Moss

Guy de la Bédoyère

Melvyn Bragg

From warrior queens to King Arthur, this epic collection explores the tribes, rulers and civilisations of Britain's Iron Age 
 
In the first millennium BC, the Iron Age arrived in Britain, bringing with it huge technological and social changes. New civilisations arose, the landscape was transformed, and societies developed new cultures and lifestyles. 
 
In this comprehensive collection, we take an in-depth look at Iron Age Britain and its inhabitants. The Essay: Unearthing Britannia's Tribes takes us on a 15-part 'woad trip' from the western reaches of Cornwall to the wilds of Scotland and Wales, as archaeologists, historians and writers reveal the peoples of ancient Albion and those who encountered them. We meet Queen Cartimandua, King Arthur, Boudicca, Pytheas and Lindow Man; hear the stories of the Cantiaci, the Demetae, the Durotriges and the Druids; and probe their myths, ideas and characters. Reaching journey's end, we learn how tribal Britain succumbed and was integrated into the Roman world. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again... 
 
Bookending this fascinating series are three episodes from In Our Time, unpacking the context behind this pivotal period of history. In the first programme, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the transition from Bronze to Iron and the dawning of the European Iron Age; while the second and third examine the legacy of both the prehistoric Celts and their ultimate conquerors, the Romans, analysing their lasting impact on Britain today. 
 
Production credits 
In Our Time presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris 
 
The Essay: Unearthing Britannia's Tribes presented by David Miles, Caradoc Peters, Melanie Giles, Nicki Howarth-Pollard, Menna Elfyn, Ilka Tampke, David Greig, Ron Hutton, Mandy Haggith, Miles Russell, Sarah Moss and Guy de la Bédoyère 
Produced by Ellie Bury and Mark Burman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (In Our Time) and BBC Radio 3 (The Essay) on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Context 
In Our Time: The Iron Age 24 March 2011 
With Barry Cunliffe, Sue Hamilton and Timothy Champion 
 
Part II: Unearthing Britannia's Tribes 
The Cantiaci 17 January 2022 
Cornwall 18 January 2022 
The Parisi 19 January 2022 
Queen Cartimandua & the Brigantes 20 January 2022 
The Demetae 21 January 2022 
Boudicca-Warrior Queen 24 January 2022 
The Maeatae 25 January 2022 
In Search of The Druids 26 January 2022 
Pytheas and the Iron Sea 27 January 2022 
Arthur Begins 28 January 2022 
Lindow Man 14 February 2022 
The Roman Orbit 15 February 2022 
The Atrebates 16 February 2022 
The Durotriges 17 February 2022 
Maidens, Matriarchs and Crones 18 February 2022 
 
Part III: Iron Age Culture 
In Our Time: The Celts 21 February 2002 
With Barry Cunliffe, Alistair Moffat and Miranda Aldhouse Green 
 
Part IV: Roman Invasion and Occupation 
In Our Time: Roman Britain 1 May 2003 
With Greg Woolf, Mary Beard and Catharine Edwards 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Unearthing Britannia's Tribes

A BBC history of Iron Age Britain

Francine Stock

Francine Stock explores how the Great War shaped culture and society between 1914 and 1918 
 
The First World War was the great military and political event of its time. But it was also an imaginative event: one that profoundly altered the ways in which men and women thought about the world, and about culture and its expressions. In this compelling five-series programme, journalist and presenter Francine Stock scrutinises the diverse responses of artists and entertainers to the bitter realities of war, and reveals how their new perspectives entered the public consciousness. 
 
Each series focuses on a specific year of the conflict, beginning with 1914, as the written word was mobilised; the music industry embraced both patriotism and escapism; and painters including Kandinsky created some of their most powerful work. Stock shows how the aftershocks of war sparked the rise of modernism and the avant-garde in 1915, and looks at how trauma was addressed in the works of Freud and the compositions of Debussy. Moving on to the following year, she demonstrates how the carnage at Verdun and the Somme inspired Dadaism, galvanised creators from Picasso to Apollinaire - and made the tank into an unlikely icon on the home front. 
 
Looking at 1917, Stock tells the story of the Harlem Hellfighters and how jazz conquered France; finds out about the popular cross-dressing theatre troupes who were taking the Front Line by storm; and listens as the first meeting between poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen is celebrated in a landmark violin performance using instruments made in memory of the duo. She concludes by examining the war's final deadly year, as US troops arrive on the Western Front, Charlie Chaplin makes a film about a private with dreams of becoming a war hero; the Austro-Hungarian Empire falls; and Elgar, Stanley Spencer and Rebecca West anticipate the end of the hostilities and the soldiers' return. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Francine Stock 
Produced by Tom Alban, Mark Burman, Caitlin Smith, Mark Rickards, Clare Walker, Georgia Catt, Sarah Shebbeare, Elizabeth Duffy 
Production Coordinator: Anne Smith 
Editors: John Goudie, Philip Sellars 
 
Readers: Clive Hayward, Heather Craney, Sean Baker, Susan Jameson, Sam Rix, Sargon Yelda, Brian Protheroe, Nicola Ferguson, Nick Underwood, Lucy Doyle, Sean Murray, Ryan Whittle, Liam Fernandez, Cameron Percival and other members of the Radio Drama Company 
Singer: Eloise Irving 
Pianist: Simon Townley 
 
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
Words for Battle 8 March 2014 
With Catriona Pennell, Samuel Hynes, Tim Kendall, Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Mark Derez, Jan Van Impe, Gerhard Hirschfeld 
Arf a Mo, Kaiser: Popular Culture on All Fronts 15 March 2014 
With Eloise Irving, Simon Townley, John Mullan, Susan Scott, Rachel Moore, Gerhard Hirschfeld, Stefan Goebel, Hubertus Jahn, Anita O'Brien 
Kandinsky, Khaki and Kisses 22 March 2014 
With Jane Potter, David Boyd Haycock, Richard Cork, Stacy Gillis, Stefan Goebel 
 
Series 2 
Glimpses of a Modern World 18 April 2015 
With Genevieve Bell, Pat Mills, Samuel Hynes, Guillaume de Syon, Richard Slocombe, Stewart Kelly, Bryony Dixon, Mark Wollaeger 
A Cubist War 25 April 2015 
With James Taylor, Nicholas Rankin, Susan Harrow, Santanu Das, Peter Stanley, Christian Liebl 
War on the Mind 2 May 2015 
With David Code, Anna Farthing, Edgar Jones, John Forrester, Dorothy Price, Matthew Hollis 
 
Series 3 
Bleeding France 9 April 2016 
With Jay Winter, Alice Kelly, Linda Robertson, Sylvie Leray-Burimi 
The Tank and the Home Fires 16 April 2016 
With Cathy Haill, Helen Brooks, Kimberley Reynolds, Diana Thompson, Vincent Thompson, Richard Slocombe, David Wiley, Alistair Fraser 
Dada and Defiance 23 April 2016 
With Toby Thacker, Alan Dein, Jed Rasula, Jan Rueger, Emily Finer, Boris Dralyuk 
 
Series 4 
The Jazz Kings Go to War 12 August 2017 
With Max Brooks, Reid Badger, Adriane Lentz-Smith, Noble Sissle Jr 
Reality and Reconstruction 19 August 2017 
With Steve Burnett, Catherine Walker, Boris Dralyuk, Richard Cork, Sylvain Bellanger, Suzannah Biernoff, James Partridge, Sarah Crellin 
An Intimate War 26 August 2017 
With Jason Crouthamel, Anke Vetter, Kevin Clarke, Jay Winters, Laraine Porter, Simon Rothon 
 
Series 5 
1918: Chaplin Goes to War 8 September 2018 
With David Luben, Claggett Wilson Read, Lucie Dutton, Ailsa Grant Ferguson 
1918: Vienna and the Fall of an Empire 15 September 2018 
With Michael Haas, Marcus Patka, Ivan Ristic, Nicolai Guteman 
The Return of the Soldier 22 September 2018 
With Boris Dralyuk, Martin Sorrell, Toby Thacker, Jane Potter, David Haycock, Ann Danks 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

World War One: The Cultural Front

A BBC Radio 4 history series

Fintan O'Toole

Ruth Padel

Heather Jones

Elif Shafak

David Edgerton

Sara LeFanu

The complete BBC Radio 3 series exploring how great creative minds responded to the First World War in individual works of art and scholarship 
 
World War I saw an unprecedented loss of life in Western Europe, and destruction on a scale no one alive had ever seen. All those who experienced it were irrevocably changed, including many writers and artists upon whose oeuvre it left an indelible mark. 
 
This captivating series examines the impact of the war on artists and thinkers through the prism of their great works. In each episode, a leading figure from the worlds of science, culture and the arts reflects on a single iconic piece, and discusses how the events of 1914-18 shaped its creation. 
 
The 29 artworks in this collection comprise paintings, plays, books, films, sculptures and cartoons. Ian Christie appraises Eisenstein's seminal Soviet drama Battleship Potemkin; Dame Gillian Beer considers Virginia Woolf's masterpiece Mrs Dalloway; Fintan O'Toole decodes James Joyce's epic modernist novel, Ulysses; and Dr Heather Jones looks at the controversy and war connections around Marcel Duchamp's notorious 'Fountain'. 
 
Key texts such as Sigmund Freud's twin essays Thoughts for the Time on War and Death; Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Lectures; and Siegfried Sassoon's celebrated 1917 protest letter to The Times are analysed by Dr Michael Shapira, Santanu Das and Joanna Bourke; and a panoply of other pieces, among them Kathe Kollwitz's 'The Grieving Parents', Sean O'Casey's The Silver Tassie and Rudyard Kipling's Epitaphs are discussed by experts including Ruth Padel, Elizabeth Kuti and Janet Montefiore. 
 
Powerful, moving, thought-provoking and often shocking, these landmark works are all, in their very different ways, a response to the horrors of World War I and its aftermath - one that vividly demonstrates the transformative effects the conflict had on the collective artistic psyche. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Allan Little, Sara LeFanu, Martin Rowson, Prof David Edgerton, Michal Shapira, Dr Heather Jones, Ian Christie, Lyse Doucet, Santanu Das, Ruth Padel, Arthur Smith, Prof Gillian Beer, Richard Cork, Sasha Dugdale, Fintan O'Toole, Gerald Dawe, John D McHugh, Elizabeth Kuti, Tarek Osman, Joanna Bourke, Elif Shafak, Dr Imaobong Umoren, Janet Montefiore, Jane Potter and Alex Walton 
Produced by Beaty Rubens, Benedict Warren, Emma Kingsley, Simon Elmes and Sarah Bowen 
 
Episode list: 
1. Paths of Glory 
2. Non-Combatants and Others 
3. Der Krieg 
4. The Memorandum on the Neglect of Science 
5. Thoughts for the Times on War and Death 
6. Le Feu 
7. Battleship Potemkin 
8. Fighting France, from Dunkerque to Belfort 
9. The Broken Wing 
10. The Grieving Parents 
11. Tagore's Nobel Lectures 
12. Tzara's Dada Manifesto 
13. Woolf's Mrs Dalloway 
14. Parade 
15. Akhmatova's July 1914 
16. James Joyce's Ulysses 
17. Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September 
18. Francis Ledwidge's poem O'Connell Street 
19. Father Browne's Photograph of a Wounded Soldier 
20. Sean O'Casey's The Silver Tassie 
21. Marcel Duchamp 
22. Gertrude Bell 
23. Siegfried Sassoon's Letter to The Times 
24. Mata Hari's Final Performance 
25. Isaac Rosenberg's Dead Man's Dump 
26. WEB Dubois' Returning Soldiers 
27. Rudyard Kipling's Epitaphs 
28. Mary Borden's The Forbidden Zone 
29. Isobel Rae 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Minds at War

How great artists and their work were shaped by the First World War

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of the Islamic world through its religion, thinkers, poetry, empire and rulers 
 
'An ever-growing library of wisdom' The Economist 
 
Since 1998, In Our Time has been the go-to radio programme for knowledge seekers and inquiring minds. Tackling big topics with a light touch, it has introduced weekly audiences of over 2 million to subjects ranging from Romulus and Remus to the Renaissance. 
 
This special themed collection provides a focussed, wide-ranging introduction to 25 of the ideas and events that shaped the Islamic world, highlighting the numerous connections between Islamdom and the West throughout history. We learn the origins of Sharia law, and how prophets became important to Islam, Judaism and Christianity alike; discover how the Translation Movement introduced the Arabic world to Greek philosophy, medicine, engineering and maths; and find out how settlers and invaders from both East and West transformed and refashioned the civilisations they touched, from the Arab Conquest, Muslim Spain and the Volga Vikings to the Third Crusade and the Siege of Vienna. 
 
Here, too, are key scholars and writers, among them al-Kindi, the first significant thinker to reconcile philosophy and Islam; Averroes, who worked to integrate Islamic theology with the rationality of Aristotle; Maimonides, a titan of Jewish intellectual history who was much influenced by the Islamic world; and Rumi, the Persian poet and Sufi mystic whose work transcends borders of time, faith, language and geography. 
 
Hosted by Melvyn Bragg with a panel of experts including Mona Siddiqui, Jim Al-Khalili, Tariq Ali and Amira Bennison, these enlightening, accessible discussions will illuminate, inspire and surprise. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Victoria Brignell 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Religion 
Islamic Law and its Origins 5 May 2011 
Sunni and Shia Islam 25 June 2009 
Prophecy 13 June 2013 
 
Part II: History of Ideas 
Maths in the Early Islamic World 16 February 2017 
The Translation Movement 2 October 2008 
Al-Kindi 28 June 2012 
al-Biruni 10 June 2010 
Avicenna 8 November 2007 
Al-Ghazali 19 March 2015 
Averroes 5 October 2006 
Maimonides 17 February 2011 
Ibn Khaldun 4 February 2010 
 
Part III: Literature 
Antarah ibn Shaddad 28 February 2019 
Rumi's Poetry 11 February 2016 
 
Part IV: Empire 
The Sassanid Empire 13 December 2007 
The Arab Conquests 26 June 2008 
Muslim Spain 21 November 2002 
The Battle of Tours 16 January 2014 
The Volga Vikings 11 November 2010 
The Almoravid Empire 3 May 2018 
Third Crusade 29 November 2001 
The Siege of Vienna 14 May 2009 
 
Part V: Rulers 
The Abbasid Caliphs 2 February 2006 
The Mamluks 26 September 2013 
The Safavid Dynasty 12 January 2012 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Landmarks in Military History

A BBC Radio 4 Collection

Michael Portillo uncovers the forgotten events concealed by famous moments in history 
 
History is complicated, and to make sense of it, we construct a narrative, editing and shaping the past to form a coherent story. But in doing so, there is much we leave out, leading to gaps in our collective memory. In this series, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo revisits some of history's best-known moments to fill in some of these gaps, rediscovering forgotten events that augment our understanding and shift our perspective. 
 
Reappraising milestones such as the Spanish Armada, the French Revolution, the First World War and the Great Depression, he probes our selective amnesia, asking what we have mythologised, and what we've ignored. Was Alfred the Great really a bold English hero, or an Anglo-Saxon spin doctor? Why is Georgian England remembered for its elegant architecture and regency refinement when this period of history was full of riots and political strife? And could the Bengal famine of 1943, a horrific event in British India that cost at least 1.5 million lives, have been avoided? 
 
Talking to leading historians and experts, Portillo peels back the layers of history to uncover the uncomfortable truths and murky, ambiguous stories behind iconic events such as the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688, the struggle for Indian independence and the Boston Tea Party. He also reveals a Suffragette plot to assassinate Herbert Asquith; shows how a disastrous attempt at overseas colonisation led to the 1707 Act of Union merging England and Scotland; and takes a look at the real losers of the Battle of Trafalgar - the Spanish. 
 
Not revisionist, but restorative, this fascinating series challenges the orthodox view of history without glossing over its complexities, presenting a surprising, thought-provoking re-evaluation of our past and reminding us that the events we choose to remember are not always those that are the most significant. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Michael Portillo 
Produced by Julia Adamson, Tom Alban, Marya Burgess, Joanne Cayford, James Cook, James Crawford, Neil George, Laurence Grissell, Julia Johnson, Roger Mahony, Neil McCarthy, Paula McGinley and Philip Sellars 
Consultant: Chris Williams of the Open University 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
The Battle of Mers-el-Kebir 16 May 2005 
The Spanish Armada 23 May 2005 
The French Revolution 6 June 2005 
 
Series 2 
Jack the Ripper 27 November 2006 
The First World War 4 December 2006 
The 1945 Labour Government 11 December 2006 
 
Series 3 
On Suffragettes 24 December 2007 
The Darien Scheme 31 December 2007 
The Bengal Famine 7 January 2008 
The Battle of Trafalgar 14 January 2008 
 
Series 4 
The League of Nations 15 December 2008 
Alfred the Great 22 December 2008 
 
Series 5 
Chamberlain and 'Peace for our Time' 1938 14 December 2009 
The Hanseatic League 21 December 2009 
The Glorious Revolution 28 December 2009 
 
Series 6 
King Harold 15 November 2010 
The Violent Side of Indian Independence 29 November 2010 
The Great Depression in the USA 6 December 2010 
 
Series 7 
The Real Boston Tea Party, 1773 13 November 2011 
Police Strike 20 November 2011 
The English Armada 4 December 2011 
 
Series 8 
The Georgian Façade 11 June 2012 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Things We Forgot to Remember

BBC Worldwide

1982 was a historic year, a year in which the battle for a small group of islands in the South Atlantic dominated the news. 
 
From the initial broadcasts of the growing Argentine threat and Mrs Thatcher's speech to the Commons informing them that a Task Force will sail, to the battles for Goose Green and Port Stanley, the Argentine surrender and the controversial sinking of the Belgrano - all these historic moments, together with all the other important events of the Falklands War, are recorded here, in live BBC Radio News coverage. 
 
Released to mark the 40th anniversary of the conflict, this collection of recordings from the BBC Radio News team brings to life the events of the Falklands War and includes speeches and statements from journalists and survivors, as well as key political figures such as Margaret Thatcher and former President of Argentina Leopoldo Galtieri. 
 
 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Falklands War: Recordings from the Archive

A landmark BBC radio collection

Fergal Keane

A BBC Radio collection about Ireland and the Irish, hosted by Fergal Keane - plus bonus material 
 
Award-winning BBC foreign correspondent Fergal Keane grew up in Dublin and County Cork, and has always felt a deep attachment to his ancestral homeland. In these six absorbing programmes, he takes a wide-ranging look at Ireland's history, culture and people, in topics ranging from the political to the personal . Also included are two moving autobiographical pieces about fatherhood and his own childhood. 
 
How the Irish Shaped Britain explores the profound influence the Irish have had on the United Kingdom over many centuries. Beginning in the ancient Celtic world, Fergal travels through the time of the Vikings to the 19th and 20th Century and on to the present day, examining how Irish migrants and their descendants have shaped literature, business, sport and the physical landscape. 
 
Troubles Shared sees Fergal and fellow journalist Peter Taylor discussing their experiences of reporting on the Northern Ireland conflict. Over two episodes, they revisit the province to talk about what they saw, and ask what it all means now. Meanwhile, No Man is an Island takes Fergal from the Republic to Northern Ireland, as he charts the seismic changes that have taken place in both regions and reflects on the sectarian feuding which has dominated the history of Ulster. 
 
Keane on Keane... finds him presenting a profile of his uncle, celebrated playwright John B Keane. Visiting Dublin and the dramatist's home town of Listowel, Fergal hears how a country publican became an internationally-acclaimed writer. Another iconic figure is recalled in United Irishman, in which Keane recounts the colourful life of Wolfe Tone, the Protestant founding father of Irish republicanism. 
 
There Will Be Sunlight Later gives Fergal's impressions of life in Northern Ireland, as he talks to the country's citizens and listens to their poetry and music. And in two bonus essays, Letter to Daniel and My Grandmother's House, we receive insights into Fergal's own family life, through his poignant message to his newborn son and his recollections of his early days and his grandparents' home in Cork. 
 
 
How the Irish Shaped Britain 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by John Murphy &amp; Adele Armstrong 
Mixed by Eloise Whitmore 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11-25 January 2021 
 
Troubles Shared 
Presented by Fergal Keane and Peter Taylor 
Produced by Conor Garrett 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster, 31 October-7 November 2020 
 
No Man is an Island 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 November and 9 December 1996 
 
Keane on Keane... 
With Fergal Keane and John B Keane 
Produced by Chris Spurr 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 January 2005 
 
United Irishman 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Chris Bowlby 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 November 1998 
 
There Will Be Sunlight Later 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Cathy Packe 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 October 1990 
 
From Our Own Correspondent: Letter to Daniel 
Read by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast as BBC Radio 4, 15th February 1996 
 
My Grandmother's House 
Read by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 January 1999 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

How the Irish Shaped Britain

And 5 other BBC documentaries on Ireland

Christopher Andrew

Christopher Andrew and guests ask what would have happened if major historical moments had taken a different course 
 
In these 34 intriguing episodes, leading historian Christopher Andrew rewrites history, considering what might have transpired if pivotal events had turned out differently. By altering a single, plausible fact, he explores alternative futures where the Spanish Armada landed on English soil, Pontius Pilate freed Jesus, the Nazis occupied Britain, and many more. 
 
What if George Washington had lost the War of Independence? What if Columbus had never reached the New World? And what if Elizabeth I had married? In the company of an array of guest experts, Andrew tackles these and other questions, imagining a world where cars are banned from our cities, JFK survived the shooting in Dallas, or the Great Fire of London never took place. 
 
Full of thought-provoking hypotheses and lively speculation, this counterfactual history series not only suggests what could have happened, but refreshes our memories of what actually occurred during some of history's key turning points. In contemplating an alternate story, we are reminded how extraordinary it is that things did indeed result in the way that they did. 
 
Episode list 
1. What if Hitler had won the war against Russia in 1941? 
2. What if John F Kennedy had survived the shooting in Dallas? 
3. What if the 1979 referendum had led to Scottish independence? 
4. What if Columbus hadn't reached the New World? 
5. What if we'd kept the trains and banned cars from our main towns and cities? 
6. What if King Edward VIII had married Mrs Simpson and remained on the throne? 
7. What if Pontius Pilate had freed Jesus? 
8. What if the Spanish Armada had landed in Kent in 1588? 
9. What if Labour leader John Smith had lived? 
10. What if either the royalist or parliamentary armies had achieved outright victory at the battle of Edgehill? 
11. What if the NHS had never been introduced in 1948? 
12. What if Britain had not discovered the North Sea Oil? 
13. What if there was no fire of London in 1666? 
14. What if Alfred the Great was defeated in 878? 
15. What if German Emperor Wilhelm I had died ten years earlier? 
16. What if germ warfare were to be used against the US? 
17. What if there was no 1947 Agriculture Act? 
18. What if Martin Luther King had survived the assassination on 4 April 1968? 
19. What if Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo? 
20. What if the Diggers had spread in 1649, and there were no slaves, lawyers or accountants? 
21. What if Yasser Arafat had been assassinated in 1968? 
22. What if Mary Tudor had completed the Counter-Reformation as planned? 
23. What if the First Crusade had failed in 1095? 
24. What if Germany had defeated France at the beginning of World War I in 1914? 
25. What if Britain had voted against EU membership in the 1975 EEC Referendum? 
26. What if the Russians had won the Space Race? 
27. What if Alexander the Great had gone West, not East? 
28. What if George Washington had lost the American War of Independence? 
29. What if the Germans had discovered that the Allies had cracked the Enigma code during World War II? 
30. What if the Nazis had occupied Britain in 1940? 
31. What if Elizabeth I had married? 
32. What if the Chinese authorities had not sent tanks into Tiananmen Square in June 1989? 
33. What if the Zulus had defeated the British in 1879? 
34. What if D-Day had failed? 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Professor Christopher Andrew 
 Produced by Ian Bell, Mark Smalley and Isobel Eaton 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 2 January 1991-5 June 2004. 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What If?

A BBC Radio 4 alternative history

Winston Churchill

'The most persuasive and patriotic exhortations to arms since the Agincourt address from Henry V.' - The Guardian. 
 
 
Sir Winston Churchill steered Britain through its darkest hours during World War II. He was one of the 20th century's greatest orators and the speeches that he painstakingly composed, rehearsed and delivered inspired courage in an entire nation. Churchill's output was prolific - his complete speeches alone contain more than 5 million words. On this special recording, the best and most important of those have been brought together in this historic volume. 
 
 
Winston Churchill oversaw some of the most significant events the world has ever seen and he was the most eloquent and expressive statesman of his age. These speeches help reveal the man behind the defiant orator and demonstrate why, in a national poll, Churchill was voted 'Greatest Briton of All Time'. Many of his speeches were recorded after their original delivery because the Houses of Parliament did not have the facility to record live speeches at the time; fortunately, most were committed to tape later and we can today still hear the power of Churchill's oratory. 
 
 
 
Bringing together digitally remastered archive recordings of Winston Churchill with readings by his grandson in the few cases where we can't hear from the great man himself, this collection of speeches includes: 
 
 'Blood, toil, tears and sweat' 
 'Give us the tools' 
 'We can take it!' 
 'A total and unmitigated defeat' 
 'The Few' 
 'This was their finest hour' 
 'An Iron Curtain has descended' 
 'Never give in!' 
 'Sinking of the Graf Spee' 
 'Fall of Singapore' 
 'Review of the war' 
 'Battle of the Atlantic' 
 'Victory in North Africa' 
 'Tribute to George VI' 
 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Winston Churchill's Greatest Speeches

A BBC Collection

Audrey Gillan

Dan Maudsley

Audrey Gillan revisits her time on the ground with the British Army in Iraq, and the infamous friendly fire incident that killed Matty Hull 
 
'A remarkable listen: detailed, unflinching and revealing about the ripple effects of a wholly avoidable tragedy'Financial Times 
 
Award-winning journalist Audrey Gillan was embedded with British troops during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. She was on the ground with the Household Cavalry's D Squadron when American pilots, firing at what they believed to be the enemy, injured four of its soldiers and killed one: 25-year-old Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull. 
 
Realising their mistake moments later, one pilot is heard muttering to the other 'we're in jail, dude'. But although a 2007 inquest condemned Matty's killing as unlawful and criminal, they were never prosecuted or punished for their actions, nor have they ever offered any apology. Now, years later, Audrey Gillan has joined forces with producer Dan Maudsley to investigate the notorious incident and its aftershocks, and tell the story of D Squadron's war in her own voice and through the eyes of the men she lived alongside. 
 
From interviews with soldiers, fellow reporters, military doctors and relatives, to in-depth analysis of the US pilots' cockpit recordings, this compelling series, shortlisted for Radio/Podcast of the Year by the Foreign Press Association, sheds new and startling light on British soldiers' experiences during the Iraq invasion and the terrifying, tragic 'blue-on-blue' attack that changed their lives forever. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and descriptions of war that some listeners may find upsetting. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, details of organisations offering information and support can be found on the BBC Action Line website. 
 
Production credits 
Written and recorded by Dan Maudsley and Audrey Gillan 
Edited by Dan Maudsley 
Sound design by Rory Auskerry 
Executive producer: Shelley Jofre 
Title music: 'Ma Wefet' by UTN1 
Image: D8. Studio 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5live, 13 May-10 August 2020 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

On The Ground

The true story of young soldiers' lives forever changed by 'friendly fire' in Iraq.

Chloe Hadjimatheou

Helena Merriman

Carrie Grace

Three dramatic true stories, this is investigative journalism at its very best. 
 
'Slick, efficient and professional... hugely engaging' The Spectator (on Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel) 
'Thrilling... a really great listen'The Guardian (on Tunnel 29) 
'Brilliantly produced' The Observer (on Mayday) 
 
In these three gripping series, prominent journalists investigate fascinating human stories, shining a light on history and politics and deepening our understanding of the word we live in. 
 
Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel tells a shocking tale of sex, death and power, as Carrie Gracie delves into the mysterious murder that led to the toppling of charismatic Chinese politician, Bo Xilai, and the rise of his greatest rival, President Xi Jinping. The story of the killing of British businessman and fixer Neil Heywood in Chongqing in 2011 is one the authorities do not want told. Gracie was warned off making this programme, her phones were tapped and her emails hacked. But she would not be silenced. Here, she uncovers a tragedy 'with no heroes but only villains and victims', and takes us into the dark heart of Chinese politics. 
 
In Tunnel 29, Helena Merriman recounts the incredible story of Joachim Rudolph, who, in the early 1960s, joined a group digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall, and helped smuggle out 29 people. It's a story of the young people who risked everything, the spy who betrayed them, and the terrible price paid by those who were caught - and of the love that developed between the refugees who found freedom. Based on interviews with the tunnellers, thousands of documents from Stasi archives, and recordings from the tunnel, it is an astonishing tale of one of the most daring escape attempts of the 20th Century. 
 
Mayday investigates the extraordinary case of James Le Mesurier, an ex-British army officer found dead in an Istanbul street in 2019. The co-founder of the White Helmets - a civil defence force who pull survivors from bombed-out buildings in Syria - he was a hero to many, awarded an OBE for his efforts. But he also attracted deep suspicion, and accusations of being a spy, faking rescue videos - and involvement in appalling atrocities... Talking to Le Mesurier's widow, friends and colleagues, Chloe Hadjimatheou attempts to discover who he really was and how he died, and unravel a tangle of truth and lies. Also featured is a special extended version of The Canister on the Bed, exploring the events of the Douma massacre. In addition, bonus programme Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers reveals how a Western-funded NGO, responsible for extracting over a million documents from Syria allegedly containing evidence of torture and genocide, is now fighting a disinformation war. 
 
NB: Contains strong language and scenes which some listeners might find upsetting 
 
Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel 
Presented by Carrie Gracie 
Produced by Maria Byrne and Neal Razzell 
Sound mix by James Beard 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13-17 March 2017 
 
Tunnel 29 
Written, presented and produced by Helena Merriman 
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck 
Editor: Richard Knight 
Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt 
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 21 October-1 November 2019 
 
Mayday 
Produced, written and presented by Chloe Hadjimatheou 
Editor: Emma Rippon 
Researcher: Tom Wright 
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman 
Sound design and mix: Neil Churchill 
Additional mixing Graham Pudifoot 
Editing assistance: Robbie Wojciechowski 
Arabic translation and additional research: Vanessa Bowles and Abdul Kader Habak 
Turkish researcher: Nevin Sungur 
Narrative Consultant: John Yorke 
Original music: Nick Mundy and Bu Kolthoum 
End track: Zamilou by Bu Kolthoum 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 9-20 November 2020 
 
Mayday: The Evidence Gatherers 
Produced, written and presented by Chloe Hadjimatheou 
Editor: Emma Rippon 
Researchers: Orla O'Brien and Lara Al Gibaly 
Executive producer Maggie Latham 
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman 
Sound design and mix: Neil Churchill 
Commissioner for Radio 4: Richard Knight 
Prof Paul McKeigue and Ivan played by Mark Fleischman 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 7 April 2021 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Intrigue: 3 explosive true stories

Tunnel 29, Mayday & Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel

Mike Thompson

The BBC Radio 4 historical series that uses documentary evidence to shed new light on the past 
 
In this Sony Award-winning investigative history series, BBC international correspondent Mike Thomson and guest presenters pore over private papers, public records and primary sources, uncovering the hidden truth about historical events. 
 
As they follow the documentary trail, they talk to key participants, contemporary commentators and academic experts, and explore shocking stories of cover-ups, covert operations and collusion. Here are the extraordinary tales of the 1956 French offer to merge the UK and France; the Wall Street plot to overthrow Franklin D Roosevelt; and the journalist's notebook that came perilously close to revealing one of Britain's greatest Cold War secrets. 
 
Plus, Gordon Corera travels to Stockholm to investigate the assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, David Loyn investigates how a lost document is helping Afghanistan come to terms with its painful past, Heather Jones asks why an intelligence warning given seven weeks before Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland was ignored, and Sanchia Berg traces the career of an MI5 agent left out in the cold... 
 
From the clandestine Nazi radio station in Scotland to an MI6 chief's secret slush fund, the diaries of a Chinese ambassador to the Soviet Union and the CIA's attempts to subvert Albania, Documents That Changed The World will challenge your assumptions and make you question everything you thought you knew about history. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Mike Thomson, Jeremy Duns, Nick Rankin, Sarah Richardson, Gordon Corera, David Loyn, Heather Jones, Sanchia Berg, Dominic Streatfeild, Anne McElvoy, Dr Yee Wah Foo, Robert Bickers, Arne Westad, Jonny Foo, Andy Cheung, Jo Fox 
Produced by Tom Alban, Kate Borde, Mark Burman, Marya Burgess, James Cook, Isobel Eaton, Neil George, Patrick Gregory, Laurence Grissell, Roger Hermiston, Julia Johnson, Robert Ketteridge, Hannah Loy, Neil McCarthy, Paula McGinley, John Murphy, Sarah Shebbeare, Phil Tinline 
Executive producer: Philip Sellars 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 5 September 2005-4 December 2017

Documents That Changed The World

A BBC Radio 4 History

Eric Appleby

Phyllis Kelly

A landmark drama series telling the compelling real-life WW1 love story of English soldier Eric Appleby and his Irish sweetheart Phyllis Kelly 
 
Eric Appleby was an engineering student from Liverpool, who joined the Royal Field Artillery when war began in 1914. Posted to Athlone, he met and fell in love with solicitor's daughter Phyllis Kelly at a dance. Their romance was interrupted when he was sent to fight in the trenches on the Western Front, but they kept their love alive through a series of wonderfully crafted letters. 
 
This radio series charts their extraordinary correspondence, including over 200 letters, field service postcards and telegrams in which Eric describes his experiences from the time he left Athlone in March 1915 until the tail-end of the Somme offensive in October 1916. Discovered on a top shelf in Belfast's Linen Hall Library by producer Ian Dougan, the letters reveal a touching, unique and bittersweet story. 
 
From memories of their courting days of dances and boat trips, to quarrels, jealousy and the pain of being apart, Eric pours out his deepest feelings of love and loneliness to Phyllis. And as the casualties mount around him, he confides to her the horrors he has witnessed, painting a vivid, shocking picture of the stress and terror of life at the Front. In each letter, the voices of Eric and Phyllis interweave, as if in an intimate conversation, as they reach out across the miles that separate them. 
 
Read by Ruairí Tohill and Roisin Gallagher, and featuring music and sound effects that bring the story to life, this remarkable, moving series will touch your heart. Also included is a 30-minute documentary, Introducing Love Letters from the Front, in which the actors discuss the challenges of performing the letters (they never met during the recording, so that their two perspectives could be kept separate). Plus, presenter Maggie Cronin talks to Phyllis Kelly's relatives, Tom and Patrick, about who Eric and Phyllis really were; and discusses the remarkable context in which their memorable words were written. 
 
 
Read by Ruairí Tohill and Roisin Gallagher 
Produced by Ian Dougan 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster &amp; BBC Radio Foyle, 21 April-28 October 2016 
 
Introduction to Love Letters from the Front 
Presented by Maggie Cronin 
With Ruairí Tohill, Roisin Gallagher, Tom Kelly and Patrick Kelly 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster &amp; BBC Radio Foyle, 17 April 2016 
 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Love Letters from the Front

A BBC Radio dramatisation of a true love story

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi

Kamila Shamsie

Major BBC series rediscovering some of the key thinkers and achievements from the Golden Age of Islam. 
 
Between the 8th and 13th Century, the Islamic world flourished. This 500-year period of monumental political and cultural change became known as its 'Golden Age', characterised by unprecedented advancement in the fields of architecture, invention, medicine, innovation and philosophy, which still inform huge parts of the modern world. 
 
In these 20 episodes, we hear about some of the most remarkable events and individuals of this extraordinary epoch. Beginning with the establishment and expansion of the Islamic State, the series encompasses the rise of Shi-ism, the introduction of paper to the Western world, the brilliance and beauty of Islamic architecture and the intellectual powerhouses of Baghdad and Cairo. We also meet important historical figures, including Harun Al-Rashid (the Caliph from the Thousand and One Night tales), mathematician and astronomer Al-Khwarizmi, philosopher and physician Avicenna, influential poet and mystic Al-Rumi and the great 12th Century hero Saladin. 
 
Each episode is presented by experts in the field, who share their knowledge and passion, among them lawyer and politician Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, scientist Jim Al-Khalili, theologian Professor Mona Siddiqui, Persian scholar Narguess Farzad and award-winning writer Kamila Shamsie. 
 
Also included are two episodes of In Our Time hosted by Melvyn Bragg, the first expanding further on the colourful career of Avicenna, and the second discussing the life and ideas of a prescient intellectual who lived just after the Golden Age: the 14th Century philosopher of history Ibn Khaldun. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. ? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Hugh Kennedy, Professor Robert Gleave, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Professor Jonathan Bloom, Professor Julia Bray, Narguess Farzad, Jim Al-Khalili, Professor James Montgomery, Professor Peter Adamson, Dr Tony Street, Dr. Sussan Babaie, Dr Simonetta Calderini and Dr Delia Cortese, Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor Charles Burnett, Dr. Amira Bennison, Jonathan Phillips and Kamila Shamsie 
Produced by Sarah Taylor and Mohini Patel 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from November 2013 to February 2014. 
 
Track list: 
1. The Establishment of the Islamic State 
2. Ali ibn Abi Talib 
3. Imam Bukhari 
4. Paper 
5. Harun al-Rashid 
6. Rabia Balkhi and Mahsati Ganjavi 
7. Al-Khwarizmi 
8. Al-Kindi 
9. Al-Farabi 
10. Avicenna 
11. Al-Tabari 
12. Islamic Architecture 
13. Al-Biruni 
14. Al Hakim 
15. Al-Ghazali 
16. Ibn Rushd 
17. Cities of Learning 
18. Salah al-Din 
19. Al-Rumi 
20. Lubna of Cordoba 
 
21. In Our Time: Avicenna 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
With Peter Adamson; Amira Bennison and Nader El-Bizri 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8 November 2007 
 
22. In Our Time: Ibn Khaldun 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
With Robert Hoyland, Robert Irwin and Hugh Kennedy 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 February 2010

The Islamic Golden Age

A BBC history 770 - 1258 CE

Frances Fyfield

Clemency Burton Hill

Frances Fyfield and Clemency Burton-Hill explore the tales and tribulations behind the scores of well-known pieces of music 
 
'Endlessly fascinating' New Statesman 
 
Crime writer Frances Fyfield and classical music broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill pore over the hand-written scores of great composers to decipher the hidden tales of creativity locked within. Behind the hieroglyphics, scribbles and corrections on these priceless pages are clues that, when forensically examined by an expert eye, reveal the extraordinary craft, skill and inventiveness of geniuses such as Beethoven, Handel, Elgar, Stravinsky, Schubert, Puccini, Rachmaninov and Chopin. 
 
Accompanied by a team of musical sleuths, including world-leading performers, conductors, writers and graphologists, Frances and Clemency travel the UK, Europe and America to track down these rare and treasured documents. Among their discoveries are the manuscripts for famous songs like 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring', and some of the best-loved operas, operettas and musicals of all time including Madame Butterfly, Porgy and Bess, and The Pirates of Penzance. 
 
They scour the fragile pages of Bach's B-Minor Mass, so thick with music that the ink has burned through the paper; the ballet score for Aaron Copland's 'Appalachian Spring', revealing the changes made to please guest dancer Rudolf Nureyev; and a long-lost flute concerto by Vivaldi, rediscovered after being buried in an Edinburgh archive for 250 years. Through detailed study of these, and many other, manuscripts, they reveal the answers to questions such as, how did Debussy attempt to capture the sea? What famous lines were adapted for their first singers? Why was one of Mozart's boldest lines crossed out? And did the shooting of a German diplomat inspire Tippett's A Child of Our Time? 
 
Inspired, insightful and often surprising, this is an unparalleled look at the astonishing secret history of musical invention - ink blots, doodles, coffee stains and all. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, May 2004 - August 2020 
 
Presented by Frances Fyfield, Clemency Burton-Hill 
Christine Andreas and Ted Sperling (Series 19, Episode 3) 
Loras Schissel (Series 19, Episode 4) 
Produced by Tom Alban, Simon Elmes, Mohini Patel

Tales from the Stave

The extraordinary stories behind classical musical manuscripts

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee's highly-acclaimed and award-winning BBC Radio 4 history of the British Empire. 
 
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, the empire worked and played the British game, often absurdly so. 
 
BBC Radio 4's monumental history of Britain tells the story of the British Empire from its earliest beginnings through the years when British influence grew steadily around the globe, years when Britain took full advantage of the technical advances of its industrial revolution. 
 
Here are the origins of the modern nations of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and of the ways in which British influence has affected, for better or for worse, nations such as India, Sri Lanka, and China. Here are the stories, not always happy and glorious, of Captain James Cook, Mungo Park, Warren Hastings, Sir Stamford Raffles, and David Livingstone. 
 
The story of the British Empire is one of enormous personalities, adventure, scientific and maritime development, and the building of one of the most complex international administrations the world has ever seen. 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

This Sceptred Isle: Empire

The Classic BBC Radio History

Sean Bean

The Second World War ended over 75 years ago, and the number of men and women who lived through it is rapidly dwindling. But its legacy casts a long shadow, and the memories of those who experienced the conflict left both powerful stories and often a complex inheritance behind for their children and grandchildren. 
 
In this series, Sean Bean investigates how the trauma of profound wartime experiences - whether spoken or unspoken - can be transferred down through subsequent generations. For although physical wounds may heal, emotional wounds can remain to inform family dynamics for good or ill. 
 
From prisoners of war and hero soldiers to infamous traitors and long-lost relatives, Sean meets 10 families who have been forever changed by World War II. He talks to Gethin Jones, whose father was a conscientious objector; Anne Godden and Barbara Sherman, daughters of returning soldiers whose marriages broke down; Tom Boden, who lived through the bombing of Liverpool and was evacuated twice; Ingrid Von Oelhafen, who discovered she was the victim of the Nazi's 'Lebensborn' programme in which children were stolen from their parents; and Stella Collis, daughter of a German POW who was interred at Wormwood Scrubs. 
 
We also hear the moving story of Barclay Patoir, who came to Britain from Guyana and survived war and prejudice to marry and raise a family; the extraordinary experiences of Kurt Marx, a Kindertransport refugee, and his wife Ingrid, who lived through Auschwitz; and the children of Nazi sympathiser John Beckett talk about their complicated, conflicted legacy. Shafquat Towheed reflects on the ways that his father's experience of the Bengal Famine stayed with him throughout his life - and the ways in which it is remembered. And in a fascinating voyage of discovery, Niki MacCarthy journeys to Nagasaki to find out about her father Aidan's life-saving medical work, and uncover the truth behind a very special family heirloom. 
 
©2021 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2014 BBC Worldwide Ltd 
Presented by Sean Bean 
Produced by Martin Williams, Kate Bissell and Mark Rickards 
 
Featuring: Gethin and Adam Russell-Jones; Betty and Max Paschal; Kurt, Michael and Johanna Marx; Anne Godden and Barbara Sherman; Clare Beckett-Wrighton and Francis Beckett; Juliet Weller; Shafquat Towheed, Niki and Adrienne MacCarthy; Tom Boden, Dawn Hann, Evie Thame and Michael Thame; Ingrid Von Oelhafen 
 
With thanks to: Michael Newman of the Association of Jewish Refugees, Diya Gupta and Brian Hann 
 
For more information about Kurt Marx's wartime experiences, please see Refugee Voices, a project of the AJR: https://www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/ 
 
And for more information about the legacy of such experiences please visit the Second Generation Network and the Holocaust Memorial Trust: https://secondgeneration.org.uk/ and https://www.het.org.uk/ 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13 May-10 August 2020

Legacy of War

A BBC World War 2 History

Misha Glenny

'Glenny does the sort of history I wish I had been taught at school' 
 Jemima Lewis, The Telegraph 
 
Former BBC Central European correspondent Misha Glenny investigates the borders, stories and people of nine countries worldwide, and asks how they acquired the shape and character they have today. Aided by a wealth of expert contributors, he discovers the geographical quirks, Game Of Thrones-style battles and history-changing personalities that have defined each nation - busting some persistent myths and stereotypes along the way. 
 
In Germany, Glenny blows away the fog of Nazism to reveal the country's high culture and often feeble past, taking us from the Thirty Years' War to the rise of Prussia and the emergence of a unified nation. Spain chronicles the rise and fall of an empire - from 1492 to 1898, from Columbus to El Desastre - and explores the fractured state of the nation, both in history and now. In Italy, Glenny tells a tale of fragmentation, occupation, unification (and the birth of the Mafia), and expansionist dreams that led to mass Italian bloodshed in the First World War. Brazil sees him stripping away the happy imagery of carnival and beach volleyball to expose a dark colonial history, as he charts the country's transformation from giant factory farm for Europeans to modern BRIC economy. 
 
France considers Joan of Arc's part in resisting the English invasion, analyses the French Revolution through Robespierre, and looks at the other Napoleon: Napoleon III, whose defeat ultimately led to two world wars. In The USA, Glenny examines the creation of the most powerful nation in the world, from the Founding Fathers to frontier wars and the melting pot of immigration. In The Netherlands, Glenny explains how the country is much more than just Holland, probes how a few boggy Netherlandish provinces became one of the military and trading heavyweights of the world, and wonders why Belgium exists. And in Britain, he presents the story of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, from Offa's Dyke to Hadrian's Wall via London, Derry and Edinburgh. He delves into England's dominance of the United Kingdom, discusses the significance of our island status, and ponders British identity, asking what binds us - and what divides us. And in Ireland, Glenny learns about Catholics, Protestants and the early seeds of war. 
 
This collection also includes three extra series on things that have shaped Europe as much as any nation: The Alps, which divide Europe and swallow up armies, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the legendary Italian general, and The Habsburgs, a family who ruled in Europe for 1,000 years. 
 
 
 
Written and presented by Misha Glenny 
Produced by Miles Warde 
 
This collection contains: 
The Invention of Germany 
The Invention of Italy 
The Invention of Brazil 
The Invention of Spain 
The Invention of France 
The Invention of the Netherlands 
The Invention of the USA 
The Invention of Britain 
The Invention of Ireland 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, October 2011 - March 2019

How To Invent A Country

Nine nations that shaped the world

Bridget Kendall

Bridget Kendall presents an oral history tracing decisive moments of the Cold War. 
 
The Cold War is one of the furthest-reaching and longest-lasting conflicts in modern history. It spanned the globe - from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba - and lasted for almost half a century. It has shaped political relations to this day, drawing new physical and ideological boundaries between East and West. 
 
Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand. This landmark series draws on exclusive interviews with individuals who lived through the conflict's key events, offering a variety of perspectives that reveal how the Cold War was experienced by ordinary people. From pilots making food drops during the Berlin Blockade and Japanese fishermen affected by H-bomb testing, to families fleeing the Korean War and children whose parents were victims of McCarthy's Red Scare, Cold War covers the full geographical and historical reach of the conflict. This is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand how the tensions of the last century have shaped the modern world, and what it was like to live through them. 
 
1. The Greek Civil War 
2. The Czech Coup 
3. The 1948 Election in Italy 
4. The Berlin Blockade 
5. The Fall of Shanghai 
6. The Korean War 
7. McCarthyism 
8. The H-Bomb 
9. The East German Uprising 
10. The Iran Coup 
11. Khrushchev’s Thaw 
12. The Hungarian Revolution 
13. The Congo Coup 
14. The Berlin Wall Crisis 
15. The Cuban Missile Crisis 
16. The Fall of Khrushchev 
17. The Chinese Cultural Revolution 
18. The Prague Spring 
19. America’s Vietnam War 
20. The Coup in Chile 
21. The Fall of Saigon 
22. Ostpolitik 
23. The Angolan Civil War 
24. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 
25. The Birth of Solidarity in Poland 
26. The New Cold War 
27. Gorbachev’s Perestroika 
28. The Fall of the Berlin Wall and German Reunification 
29. The Baltic Singing Revolution 
30. The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Cold War: Series 1 and 2

Stories from the Big Freeze

Jeremy Bowen

BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen presents a personal history of the Middle East. 
 
Over these 25 programmes, Jeremy reflects on the present and the past of the Middle East, after reporting from the region for more than a quarter of a century. He combines first-hand accounts from the front line with an in-depth look into the region's history. He has witnessed endless wars between individuals, religious groups and full-sized states, jostling for military, political and economic power. He has interviewed dictators, fanatics and fundamentalists as well as the ordinary people caught up in their dangerous games. In that time, the past has always been present, providing motivation and political ammunition. Bowen has made headlines himself and he has paid a personal price, coming under fire and losing a colleague in the course of reporting - on the worst day, he says, in his life. 
 
1. The Giant Awakens: On America's dramatic intervention in the region during the massive military build-up to the first Gulf War 
2. All Flesh is Glass: Bowen recalls the devastation of the first Gulf War, as he witnessed the aftermath of the bombing of a shelter in Baghdad 
3. Retreat to the Mountains: The story of the Kurds of Iraq 
4. Jerusalem: On the allure and challenge of the Holy City 
5. Recipe for Disaster: How the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin changed the region's history 
6. Crossing the Divide: How a gas container explains the divide between the Israelis and the Palestinians 
7. Death on the Nile: On the trail of Osama Bin Laden 
8. The Final Frontier: Looking back to December 1998, when the West sent bombers into Baghdad 
9. A Blunt Instrument: Bowen recalls his tricky dealings with the Iraqi Ministry of Information 
10. The Nearness of Death: Bowen describes the worse day of his working life - the day he and his colleagues came under fire from the Israeli Defence Force 
11. A Strike to the Heart: The dark days following 9/11 
12. The Drums of War: The fallout from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 
13. The Unravelling: On what went wrong, as Iraq descended into chaos in the months after the US invasion in 2003 
14. Guns and Olive Branches: The life of Yasser Arafat 
15. Missiles and the Ballot Box: Exploring Gaza 
16. A Taste of Fire and Smoke: The impact of religious divisions across the Middle East 
17. A Flash of Nail Varnish: On Iran's strategic position in the Middle East and its attitudes to the West 
18. The Revolving Revolution: The popular revolution in Egypt during the Arab Spring 
19. Unfollow the Leader: The overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya 
20. Crossing the Line: The dramatic eruption of opposition to the Assad regime in Syria 
21. A Mini World War: On the many different layers of war in Syria 
22. Oil and Water: The conflict in Yemen and the role of Saudi Arabia 
23. The New Sultan: Turkey's dramatic changes under the leadership of President Erdogan 
24. Cruelty Without Borders: On the rise and fall of the Islamic State group 
25. Through a Glass Darkly: Bowen looks at some of the lessons of the past 25 years - what happens next in the Middle East? 
 
Produced by Mark Savage and Cara Swift. 
 
The audio for this title has been updated as of December 2019.

Our Man in the Middle East

First-hand accounts from the front line

Chris Barker

Bessie Moore

Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey read a love story in letters, played out against the backdrop of the Second World War. 
 
‘Can you feel, as you read these words, that I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the thought that you are in the same world, and by some strange chance loving me.’ 
 
A small blue box opened in 2008 revealed a wartime world of love, longing and frustration. Inside were bundles and bundles of letters written neatly in pen, in pencil, on thin blue airmail paper or headed army notepaper. Envelopes covered in postmarks, redirections, censor’s stamps. A love affair in letters, between two people who barely knew each other, thousands of miles apart, in the middle of a war, with no idea when or whether they will ever see each other again. 
 
On September 5th 1943, Chris Barker, a signalman stationed near Tobruk in North Africa, decided to write to a former work colleague, Bessie Moore, a Morse code interpreter at the Foreign Office back in London. The unexpected warmth of Bessie's reply changed their lives forever. 
 
Chris and Bessie's love letters first appeared in Simon Garfield's book To The Letter. They toured literary festivals as part of Letters Live before being published in a book, My Dear Bessie. 
 
 
Written by Chris Barker and Bessie Moore 
Letters compiled by Simon Garfield 
Adapted by Sara Davies 
Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins 
 
Cast: 
Chris - Benedict Cumberbatch 
Bessie - Louise Brealey 
Irena - Jane Slavin

My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters

A BBC Radio 4 adaptation

James Cary

Set during World War Two, Hut 33 follows the adventures of a team of codebreakers at Bletchley Park as they work tirelessly to break German codes, matching wits with the fabled Enigma Machine. Unfortunately, they hate each other. 
 
Archie is a stroppy Geordie socialist revolutionary, while Professor Charles Gardner is a toffee-nosed snob. In theory, the immensely stupid 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall is in charge of the hut, but he is still struggling with even the most basic concepts such as his name. They are joined by child prodigy Gordon, and the silent Winstanley. There’s also Mrs Best, the lascivious landlady, and the hut’s Polish secretary Minka, the only competent member of the team – although her answers to everything usually involve violence. 
 
Starring Tom Goodman-Hill as Archie, Robert Bathurst as Professor Charles Gardner, Alex MacQueen as 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall, Fergus Craig as Gordon, Lill Roughley as Mrs Best, and Olivia Colman as Minka. 
 
Produced by Adam Bromley

Hut 33: The Complete Series 1-3

The hit BBC Radio 4 comedy

Mark Jones

A unique collection of historic recordings covering the events of 1916, from the final evacuation of Gallipoli to the aftermath of the Somme. These fascinating and often poignant first-hand accounts describe the humiliating retreat by Allied forces from Gallipoli, starvation during the Siege of Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia, the Easter Rising - viewed from both sides of the Irish divide - and the costly battles of Jutland and the Somme. At Jutland, the only full-scale fleet-to-fleet encounter of the war, 6,000 sailors died. Survivors are haunted by memories of their drowning comrades but it is the Somme which arouses the strongest feelings. Soldiers speak bitterly of the carnage and needless sacrifices as men were cut down ‘like sickled grain’. With a final toll of over 600,000 Allied casualties and no decisive breakthrough, the battle marked the point at which hope began to fade. Among the reminiscences, conscientious objectors defend their beliefs, the poets Edmund Blunden and Robert Graves offer their own distinctive observations on life in the trenches and a fusilier on the Western Front recalls meeting his new battalion commander, Lt-Col Winston Churchill. Finally, David Lloyd George, looking back on 1916, remembers a ‘dark and desperate’ time for the country.Duration: 2 hours approx.

First World War: 1916

Voices from the BBC Archive

A unique collection of historic BBC archive recordings documenting the last months of the Second World War, the euphoria of the victory celebrations, and the dawning of a very different world. 
 
In this original compilation of eyewitness accounts, BBC correspondents and official observers describe the contentious fire-bombing of Dresden in February, the liberation of Belsen in April, and the dropping of the atomic bomb in August. 
 
At home the July election produced a shock Labour landslide, putting Churchill out of office. Those close to him, politicians and family, analyse the reasons for his defeat. Its consequences were far-reaching, and led ultimately to the foundation of the Welfare State. 
 
Gradually the country returned to normal life; cricket and football matches were resumed, and cinema audiences increased as people enjoyed more leisure. At the same time, deadlock with the Soviet Union at the Potsdam conference was sowing the seeds of a new kind of conflict: ‘cold’ war. 
 
For demobbed troops and returning POWs there were more immediate problems: the unexpected tensions of ‘coming home’. But at least there was the consolation of the first peace-time Christmas since 1938.

1945 - Year of Victory

Voices from the BBC Archives

A unique collection of historic recordings covering the events of 1915, from the first Zeppelin raids to the ultimate failure at Gallipoli. 
 
In this selection of authentic eyewitness accounts, survivors describe the sinking of the Lusitania; the author Compton McKenzie remembers the Gallipoli disaster; and Violet Bonham Carter pays tribute to Rupert Brooke, who died en route to that campaign. In another poignant memoir, a close colleague recalls the last hours of the British nurse Edith Cavell, executed by the Germans for treason. 
 
Women left at home talk about the hazards they faced taking over men’s jobs, particularly in munitions; but it is the troops speaking informally and candidly who convey the truly harrowing nature of the war. Whether helpless during a poison gas attack, or pinned down on the Gallipoli beaches, their memories are bleak. For one soldier, ordered to take part in a firing squad, there was a further horror: the prospect of shooting a comrade for desertion. 
 
As the stalemate of the trenches continued, hopes for 1916 were focused on a radical new invention: the tank.

First World War: 1915

Jimmy Perry

David Croft

Twenty episodes from the second BBC Radio series, starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. 
 
In 1973 the BBC adapted its hit TV series for radio, featuring the original TV cast and characters. Three series were broadcast between 1974 and 1976, with episodes adapted from their TV counterparts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles. 
 
Now you can enjoy once again these unique recordings, with a supporting cast including John Laurie, Arnold Ridley and Ian Lavender. Among the twenty-one episodes are Don't Forget the Diver, Put That Light Out, Mum's Army, A. Wilson - Manager, and The Day the Balloon Went Up.

Dad's Army: Complete Radio Series Two

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

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