An engrossing BBC Radio 4 series spanning the history of the home and domestic relationships over the past 500 years, presented by Amanda Vickery. Professor Amanda Vickery is one of the most charismatic historians in Britain today. In 'A History of Private Life' she reveals the intimate secrets of life at home, from the Tudor mansion to the modern...

Volume Two of David Reynold's major BBC Radio 4 series traces America's story from the Civil War to World War Two. This epic narrative tells the saga of the United States through the voices of those who lived it - presidents and farmers, mothers and children, settlers and soldiers, immigrants and Native Americans. This is also the story of how ordi...

Christopher Lee's history of Britain, This Sceptred Isle, provided the definitive radio account of the nation from the arrival of Julius Caesar to the death of Queen Victoria. This Sceptred Isle, The Twentieth Century, continues the story, taking us through decades of whirlwind change and technological advancement in the diverse and colourful count...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with Voices of the Powerless, the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. At the beginning of his reign, King Charles I faced a perennial problem for English monar...

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with Voices of the Powerless, the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. In the decade following the conquest, the north of England was one of the main focuses of...

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with Voices of the Powerless, the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. We are extremely lucky to have an exceptional eyewitness account of a plague outbreak in...

The story of British Tommies sent 'over the top' to fight the Germans in the trenches of the First World War is a vivid emblem of powerlessness in the face of military discipline-and social pressures-that required young men to join up and do their duty. As the voices of the powerless become truly audible with the dawn of the recording era, we trav...

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with Voices of the Powerless, the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. The upheavals and turmoil of the sixteenth century transformed many aspects of religious...

In this episode taken from the BBC Radio 4 series, Melvyn Bragg is in urban Lancashire to explore the warp and weft of the Industrial Revolution-how the upheavals of the new mechanisation affected workers who found their traditional trades, like hand-loom weaving, superseded and marginalised by the growth of industrialisation and mechanisation. He...

The British Wars began in 1637, starting nearly 200 hundred years of battles waged within and outside our Isles. This audiobook vividly depicts exactly what life was like for our ancestors and how their experiences have shaped modern British culture and identity.

An abridged but vivid account of 4000 years of British history from the very beginnings of our nation's identity when the first settlers landed on Orkney.