This Sceptred Isle Collection 2: 1702-1901 cover art

This Sceptred Isle Collection 2: 1702-1901

The Classic BBC Radio History

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This Sceptred Isle Collection 2: 1702-1901

By: Christopher Lee, Winston Churchill
Narrated by: Anna Massey, Peter Jeffrey, Brett Usher, Denys Hawthorne, David Holt, Keith Drinkel, Patrick Reinhardt, Sean Baker
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About this listen

The final five volumes from the landmark BBC radio series This Sceptred Isle.

Christopher Lee's epic history tells the story of Britain from the Romans to the death of Victoria. This collection includes the original volumes 6-10:

  • '1702-1760: The First British Empire; the reign of George I; Britain's first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole; and the first rendition of 'Rule Britannia'.
  • 1760-1792: The Age of Revolution; the Industrial Revolution begins; America declares independence; France is rocked by social and political upheaval.
  • 1792-1815: Nelson, Wellington and Napoleon war in Europe; the introduction of income tax; England is victorious in the Battle of Trafalgar.
  • 1815-1837: regency and reform; the Prince of Wales becomes George IV; Sir Robert Peel creates the Metropolitan Police; slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
  • 1837-1901: the age of Victoria Victoria's 64-year reign encompasses huge social changes; Britain expands her empire; the Labour Party is founded.

Narrated by Anna Massey, with extracts from Sir Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples read by Peter Jeffrey, this is the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation.

©2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2016 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd Entertainment & Performing Arts Funny

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All stars
Most relevant
I have loved the This Sceptred Isle for many years. it's a fantastic, in depth exploration of British history.

Great, in depth history

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Listened to this on radio four many years ago, its still a great historical listen, and I'm happy to come back to it, only one minor niggle, were part one, audible don't have it, big why

This sceptred isle

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This was an excellent introduction to the British history of the period, engaging and enlightening. The narration was very clear and I enjoyed the explanations given throughout of the relevance of certain moments. The only things I could fault were that sometimes little parts of the story were repeated later on, though I suppose this was to give context to the coming story, and that I only noticed it because I was listening to it in large chunks while driving long distances. Also the male narrator sometimes has a slight speech impediment and can't pronounce the letters W and R properly, which once I noticed it I couldn't then un-notice! Overall, still a fantastic book.

Great history

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The readers give great depth to the characters within the narrative. A nice introduction to the UK history of this period for those looking for an overview of the key events

Well read

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I enjoyed part 1 of the series and mainly enjoyed this summary of largely British history covering the 18th and 19th centuries. My major criticism is that repeatedly the text refers to King/Queen of England or the country as England when in both cases it should be Great Britain or United Kingdom. I assume that professional historians were involved so it unforgivably careless to use these terms when the crowns were combined in 1603 and the parliaments in 1707. The narrators are excellent.

Two centuries condensed into 14 hours

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