Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Military

Joss Ackland, Roger Allam and Leslie Phillips star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. When poverty drives Jean Valjean to steal a loaf of bread from a baker’s window, it is an action that will haunt him for the rest of his life. A citizen of...

In this selection of historic recordings from the BBC Archives, British, French and American servicemen recall their harrowing experiences of the conflict. German officers also tell their stories, their misery palpable in defeat. Inevitably the horrors of the Western Front dominate and the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele evoke bitter memories.

Two new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations of Roald Dahl's gripping autobiographical stories. These two compelling adaptations, based on Roald Dahl’s real-life tales of his of his boyhood and youthful overseas adventures, celebrate his remarkable life and commemorate his genius. Boy Dahl’s...

The half millennium between the creation of the English nation in around 550 and the Norman Conquest in 1066 was a formative one. This groundbreaking series rediscovers the Anglo-Saxons through vivid portraits of thirty incredible men and women, as told by their contemporary admirers. Nobel...

Summer, 1945. The war is over, and Germany has surrendered. Across Europe, the top surviving Nazis are being tracked down, arrested and imprisoned in a once-opulent Luxembourg hotel, on 24-hour suicide watch. Now, the Allies must decide what to do with them. After much deliberation, Britain, America, Russia and France agree that Hitler's high command must be formally tried. This will be an entirely new kind of trial, with utterly new charges: those of 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide'. And before it can even take place, numerous crises and obstacles must be overcome.

In The People's War, John Willis unearths untold stories of everyday bravery, moments of terror, and tales of life-affirming community, that guide us through the years of the Second World War. From soldiers in North Africa and prisoners of war in East Asia, to evacuees in the British countryside and women in the factories, The People's War is a truly ambitious and comprehensive journey through a devastating and pivotal period of our history, as you've never read before.

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...

Something is coming. What is on the horizon for the people of Iran? Can America's friendship with Iran survive? From Jimmy Carter's optimistic visit to Tehran in December 1977 to the trial of the state's enemies in 1979, this nine-part drama tells the story of the Iranian Revolution, where protestors took to the streets in support of the exiled religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, and the Shah requested help from an America already torn apart by its own conflicts.

One of BBC Radio's flagship programmes, In Our Time is both highly acclaimed and immensely popular. First broadcast in 1998, it has built an audience of over 2 million listeners, who tune in each week to be enlightened and entertained by Melvyn Bragg and his expert panel as they tackle subjects ranging from macromolecules to the Muses. This special themed collection comprises the highlights of military history: 25 episodes exploring the most important conflicts of the past 3000 years, plus additional programmes discussing the history and future of war and key military themes.

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.

Household names nominate leaders from the past for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives Since its inception in 2001, Great Lives has been one of Radio 4's most popular programmes, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. The format is simple, but compelling: each...

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.

Battlefields is what every Richard Holmes fan has been waiting for. Richard Holmes skilfully clarifies the complexities of four major World War 2 military campaigns: El Alamein, Italy, Arnhem and the Battle of Britain (the Main Offensive). In this fascinating and brilliantly articulated study of war, he recreates what it was really like to be in the midst of bloody conflict from letters, diaries and interviews with soldiers awarded campaign medals for their heroism during World War 2.

From Vietnam to JFK - spies, lies and the story of the CIA told by its longest-serving agent The utterly gripping, award-winning drama Central Intelligence is back, revealing further inside stories of the CIA and featuring an all-star cast. Told from the perspective of Eloise Page (Kim Cattrall)...

"If war spares me," wrote Vera Brittain to her brother, Edward, in 1916, "it will be my one aim to immortalise in a book the story of us four." Seventeen years later, Vera was to achieve her aim with the acclaimed Testament of Youth. This series of letters was the inspiration behind Testament. Written between Vera; her brother; her fiancé, Roland Leighton; and their two best friends, Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow, they give a unique perspective on the most horrifying conflict the world has ever seen.

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...

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 on thin blue airmail paper or headed army notepaper.

Military historian Richard Holmes turns his attention to the infamous First World War trench line, the Western Front. Of the nine million British and Dominion soldiers who were killed in action in the Great War, most died here. In this thorough examination of the role the Front played in the war...

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.

George Orwell's classic account of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, dramatised for radio by Mike Walker. Produced by Kate McAll. In 1936 Eric and Eileen Blair were making ends meet by running a small village shop in Wallington and growing vegetables. Eric had recently sent 'The Road...