An Utterly Impartial History Of Britain by John O'Farrell (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots In Charge)

John O'Farrell's comical and irreverent take on British history, read by Jan Ravens, Mark Perry, Rupert Degas and the author.

1/5 Dire Combustion
Celebrating Bonfire Night with two historical sequences: the Gunpowder Plot and, 60 years later, the Fire of London.

2/5 The Vikings
The Anglo Saxon era, with Alfred the Great, Ethelred the Unready and the arrival of the Scandinavians with names like Eric Bloodaxe, Guthrum, Thorfinn Skullsplitter and Olav Tidyhouse.

3/5 Revolting Times
In the early 19th century, only 435,000 males could vote and all MPs who had no pay had to be property owning.
It was time for reform and the Chartist movement.

One man, one vote? It wasn't always so, as John O'Farrell explains at length.

4/5 The Norman Conquest
How did Britain take to William the Conqueror's fancy French ways? John O'Farrell explains.

5/5 Their Finest Hour
Or how a two-minute silence from Winston Churchill changes the whole course of the war.

O'Farrell has a surprisingly high opinion of Churchill as prime minister during the Second World War in this the final extract from his latest book.

Never have so many, for so few, on the beaches.

File Information:
First broadcast: BBC R4 05 Nov to 09 Nov 2007 
Type: MPEG 1.0 Layer 3 - 192 kbps mp3 – 44 khz - Stereo
Duration: 5 X 13 minute episodes
Webrip. Originally uploaded by Cheops.
Description is subject to change to better reflect program content and/or correct upload error and may not match attached text file.