Steve Gillham

The Victorian era was one of the most remarkable periods of British history; it saw the Industrial Revolution, the birth of an empire and advances in medicine, transport and education. It was also a time when harsh working conditions and desperate poverty blighted the majority of the population, conjuring images of the orphan boy Oliver Twist. This DVD uses dramatised readings, expert analysis and extensive period imagery to present a view of a time when the British Empire was at its zenith but also when conditions for the vast populace were perhaps at their lowest.

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In January 1942, the order activating the 'US Air Forces in the British Isles' was announced. On 12th May, the first contingent of USAAF personnel arrived in England, the beginnings of what was to become the largest air force in the world. The British people had never seen anything like them. Michael Brandon (Dempsey and Makepeace) presents the story of the courageous young Americans who fought the war from the foreign fields of eastern England. And of the local populations who welcomed them, resented them, admired and loved them. "The American Invasion" provides a powerful record of a momentous period in American and British history.

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It was a time of great bitterness and hatred in Britain - a war that set father against son and brother against brother. The breakdown in relations between a Parliament with a strong purpose and a King who believed in his divine right to rule, set the scene for a series of brutal battles that were truly a struggle for the soul of a nation. The outcome of the English Civil War shaped the course of the nation's history, and laid the foundations of the country as it is today.

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Using historically-accurate, battle-filled re-enactments and interviews with expert historians and noted authors, this two-part documentary series brings to vivid life the captivating true stories behind Britain's bloody civil wars.

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Robert the Bruce unites the Scots in a rebellion against the hated English, led by Edward I. He is supported by various loyal followers, notably the bishop who agrees to recognize his claim and crown him as King of the Scots.

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George Armstrong Custer is one of military history's most colourful characters, a flamboyant and dashing commander. It is said that 'cometh the hour, cometh the man', and Custer's appearance on the battlefields of America in the mid-1800s fits this saying perfectly. A failure at West Point, he made his name fighting the Federal Cavalry during the American Civil War where he earned his nickname 'the Boy General'. The dashing and ambitious Custer often flouted military convention, placing his trust instead in his famous 'luck' which, unfortunately for him, ran out during the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This programme features battle reconstructions, period imagery and 'interviews' with the man himself.

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