A History of Britain
A History of Britain is a BBC documentary series presented by Simon Schama, providing a comprehensive historical survey of the British Isles from around 3100 BC to the mid-1960s. The series consists of 15 episodes, each of which focuses on a particular period and tells of its events through Simon Schama's eye. The series begins with a conventional portrait of life in Stone Age Britain around 3100 BC ago. And as it progresses, the series brings Britain's rich history to life - Roman Britain, the Norman Conquest, the struggles of the Henrys and Richards, Elizabeth I, Scottish rebellions and the English Civil Wars, the American Revolution, the growth of the British Empire, Queen Victoria, the industrial age, and Winston Churchill.
| Episode 15 - The Two Winstons |
Covering 1910-1965. Schama examines the overwhelming presence of the past in the British twentieth century and the struggle of leaders to find a way to make a different national future. As towering figures of the twentieth century, Churchill and Orwell (through his 1984 character Winston Smith) in their different ways exemplify lives spent brooding and acting on that imperial past, and most movingly for us, writing and shaping its history.
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