The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Michael visits the historic Durham Cathedral, sees one of the first locomotives in Darlington and takes a Dracula tour in Whitby, before ending his journey on a steam train across the North Yorkshire moors.
There is a new kind of weather to worry about and it comes from our nearest star.
Scientists are expecting a fit of violent activity on the sun, which will propel billions of tonnes of superheated gas and pulses of energy towards our planet. They have the power to close down our modern technological civilisation - in 1989, a solar storm cut off the power to the Canadian city of Quebec.
Horizon meets the space weathermen who are trying to predict what is coming our way, and organisations like the National Grid, who are preparing for the impending solar storms.
Second World War thriller in which a Bletchley Park codebreaker frantically races against time to crack the Germans' new code and solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the woman he loves.
The A303 is the road that passes Stonehenge on the way to the beaches of Devon and Cornwall. On the way, it whisks drivers through 5,000 years of remarkable moments in British history. And it is the star of this film made for armchair travellers and history lovers.
Writer Tom Fort drives its 92-mile length in a lovingly restored Morris Traveller. Along the way he has many adventures - he digs up the 1960s master plan for the A303's dreams of superhighway status, meets up with a Neolithic traveller who knew the road like the back of his hand, gets to know a section of the Roman 303, uncovers a medieval murder mystery and discovers what lies at the end of the Highway to the Sun.
It's the sound of the heartland, of the midwest and the industrial cities, born in the early 70s by kids who had grown up in the 60s and were now ready to make their own noise, to come of age in the bars, arenas and stadiums of the US of A. Out of blues and prog and glam and early metal, a distinct American rock hybrid started to emerge across the country courtesy of Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad et al, and at its very heart is The Great American Rock Anthem.
At the dawn of the 70s American rock stopped looking for a revolution and started looking for a good time; enter the classic American rock anthem - big drums, a soaring guitar, a huge chorus and screaming solos. This film celebrates the evolution of the American rock anthem during its glory years between 1970 and 1990 as it became a staple of the emerging stadium rock and AOR radio and then MTV.
From School's Out and Don't Fear the Reaper to Livin' on a Prayer and Smells Like Teen Spirit, these are the songs that were the soundtrack to teenage lives in the US and around the world, anthems that had people singing out loud with arms and lighters aloft.
Huey Morgan narrates the story of some of the greatest American rock anthems and tracks the emergence of this distinct American rock of the 70s and 80s. Anthems explored include School's Out, We're an American Band, Don't Fear the Reaper, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Eye of the Tiger, I Want to Know What Love Is, Livin' on a Prayer and Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Contributors include: Alice Cooper, Dave Grohl, Butch Vig, Meat Loaf, Todd Rundgren, Richie Sambora, Blue Oyster Cult, Survivor, Toto and Foreigner.
Stadium gods Bon Jovi rock London's tiny BBC Radio Theatre. The band perform classics from six albums across their 30-year reign: Slippery When Wet, Crush, Have a Nice Day, Lost Highway, The Circle and the first ever performance of material from 2013's What About Now.
Examining the first half of Queen Victoria's life, biographer AN Wilson goes in search of a monarch too often misunderstood as the solid black-clad matron and reveals a woman who was passionately romantic and who spent her years as a child and young queen fighting the control of domineering men.
Queen Victoria was one of the 19th century's most prolific diarists, sometimes writing up to 2,500 words a day. From state affairs to family gossip, she poured out her emotions onto paper. Those close to her were afraid her more alarming opinions might escape in written form, causing havoc. In fact much of her writing was destroyed after her death and her personal journals edited by her daughter. But what survives frequently reveals a woman quite different to the one we think we know. AN Wilson reads her personal journals and unpublished letters and discovers the factors that shaped the queen's personality. From the tortured relationship with her mother, to the dominant men she clung to in search of a father figure and the powerful struggle that made her marriage to Prince Albert a battleground, Queen Victoria was always a woman in search of intimate relationships. As a daughter, a wife, a mother and the queen of a growing empire, as friends and family came and went, her pen remained her constant companion and friend.
Queen Victoria's journals and letters are read by Anna Chancellor throughout.
A journey through the dramatic and destructive years of the French Revolution, telling its history in a way not seen before - through the extraordinary story of its art. Our guide through this turbulent decade is the constantly surprising Dr Richard Clay, an art historian who has spent his life decoding the symbols of power and authority.
Dr Clay has always been fascinated by vandalism and iconoclasm, and believes much of the untold story of the French Revolution can be discovered through the stories of great moments of destruction. Who were the stone masons in the crowd outside Notre Dame that pulled down the statues of kings? Why do the churches of Paris still carry all the coded signs of anti-Christian state legislation? What does it mean, and who was carrying this out?
Telling the story of the French Revolution - from the Storming of the Bastille to the rise of Napoleon - as the significant modern outbreak of iconoclasm, Clay argues that it reveals the destructive and constructive roles of iconoclasts and how this led directly to the birth of the modern Europe.
THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2014
THU 19:00 World News Today (b04pj23w)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b04pvhmr)
David Jensen presents another edition of the weekly pop chart with performances by the Jam, Cliff Richard, the Moody Blues, Kool and the Gang, Secret Affair, Ramblers, Showaddywaddy and Dr Hook and dance sequences by Legs & Co.
THU 20:00 Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War (b01qsqd2)
Breaking the Bonds 1360-1415
England, wracked by plague and revolt, loses the upper hand until Henry V, determined to prove his right to be king, turns the tide at the battle of Agincourt.
THU 21:00 Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled (b04pl2mn)
Episode 2
AN Wilson discovers the real story behind the woman who supposedly spent the last half of her life in hiding, mourning the loss of her beloved Prince Albert. Alongside this well-known image of Victoria as the weeping widow, Wilson reveals that the years after Albert's death were actually a process of liberation and her most productive and exciting.
By examining her closest relationships in the four decades after Albert's death, Wilson tells the story of the Queen's gradual freedom from a life spent under the shadow of domineering men. Victoria's marriage had been a source of constraint as well as love, as Albert had used her pregnancies as a way to gain power and punished her for resenting it. But in her widowhood Queen Victoria, although bereft and deranged, was free to move in the world of politics and make deep friendships without concern.
From the controversial friendship with her highland servant John Brown to her most unconventional behaviour with her young Indian servant Abdul Karim, Wilson uncovers Victoria as a woman who was anything but 'Victorian'. Far from being prim and proper, she loved life in all its richness - she was blind to class and colour and, contrary to what we think, had a great sense of humour.
Queen Victoria's journals and letters are read by Anna Chancellor throughout.
THU 22:00 Puppy Love (b04pl2mq)
Episode 2
Nana V and superintendent Gerry Hooper plan to run a Canine Responsibility Awareness Community Day, in which Nana V will lead a special hazards class for new puppies. Naomi's labrador puppy Charlie causes anxiety for her new neighbour Heaven Jones when her cat Gerald goes missing. Certain that Charlie is to blame, Heaven goes to extreme lengths to get to the bottom of the mystery, roping in jobsworth bylaw enforcement officer Phil Evans. Eron and Jasmine are forced to move into Nana V's caravan when their roof collapses during a downpour. Naturally, Naomi sees this as a good opportunity to get her daughter back home where she belongs.
THU 22:30 Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance (b04pw783)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 23:30 The Old Grey Whistle Test (b014vzy3)
70s Gold
The Old Grey Whistle Test was launched on 21 September 1971 from a tiny studio tucked behind a lift shaft on the fourth floor of BBC Television Centre. From humble beginnings, it has gone on to provide some of the best and most treasured music archive that the BBC has to offer.
This programme takes us on a journey and celebrates the musically mixed-up decade that was the 1970s, and which is reflected in the OGWT archive. There are classic performances from the glam era by Elton John and David Bowie, an early UK TV appearance from Curtis Mayfield, the beginnings of heavy metal with Steppenwolf's iconic Born to Be Wild anthem and the early punk machinations of the 'mock rock' New York Dolls. Archive from the pinnacle year, 1973, features Roxy Music, The Wailers and Vinegar Joe. The programme's finale celebrates the advent of punk and new wave with unforgettable performances from Patti Smith, Blondie, Iggy Pop and The Jam.
Artists featured are Elton John, Lindisfarne, David Bowie, Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Steppenwolf, Vinegar Joe, Brinsley Schwarz, New York Dolls, Argent, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Captain Beefheart, Johnny Winter, Dr Feelgood, Gil Scott Heron, Patti Smith, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Cher & Gregg Allman, Talking Heads, The Jam, Blondie, Iggy Pop and The Specials.
THU 01:00 Top of the Pops (b04pvhmr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:30 today]
THU 01:40 Sounds of the Eighties (b04pw9xd)
Episode 8
Some heavy rhythms, including UB40's Food for Thought, Aswad's African Children, The Beat's Hands Off She's Mine, Run DMC's You Be Illin', Public Enemy's Miuzi Weighs a Ton and Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance.
THU 02:10 Puppy Love (b04pl2mq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
THU 02:40 Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled (b04pl2mn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2014
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b04pj248)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Angelic Voices: The Choristers of Salisbury Cathedral (b01f6tb8)
Child choristers have been singing at Salisbury for 900 years. This film - an observational portrait, history and musical immersion in one of Britain's most distinctive and beloved cultural traditions - follows Salisbury Cathedral's choristers over Easter and through the summer term of 2011.
Salisbury Cathedral's separate boy and girl choirs each contain 16 of the most musically gifted eight- to 13-year-olds in the country. Their role, now as always, is to sing some of the most sublime music ever written in one of Britain's most beautiful buildings. Indeed there are many who believe the chorister's pure, clear, treble voice is the finest instrument in all music.
The film spends four months with the choristers as they go about their day-to-day lives, discovering their own history and singing some of the most loved music from a sacred canon spanning six centuries from medieval plainsong to the present day. Under the direction of indefatigable choir master David Halls, they rehearse and perform works by Sheppard, Byrd, Purcell, Handel, Mozart, Stanford, Parry, Alcock and Rutter.
Lining up in his black cloak, ten-year-old Alex says he feels like Harry Potter while Freddie, 12, admits, 'Other children think we are weird and actually we are not.' Yet few children perhaps have the poise or conviction of Susanna, 10, who explains, 'Singing for choristers is part of them. If you said to me "You're not allowed to sing anymore", it would be just like me telling you that you can't see your child anymore.' It is doubtful that Salisbury's early choristers, often so hungry they were forced to beg for bread, thought so fondly of their work. But when plainsong turned to polyphony the choristers' plight was transformed - with the top cathedrals in the late middle ages known to pay Premiership-style transfer fees for the most musically gifted boys, some of whom were even kidnapped by rival cathedrals.
Today's top trebles at Salisbury are seen competing for one of the most famed solos in a chorister's repertoire. Will Finnbar, Freddie or Noah be picked for Stanford's Mag in G?
FRI 21:00 Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table (b04pl3kw)
Examining the life and career of the artist who 'knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em', this documentary chronicles Kenny Rogers's remarkable rise to the top of his game and the golden era of country music he ushered in.
With an exclusive, candid interview from Rogers himself and performance footage gathered on his recent Through the Years tour, this honest and eye-opening film provides a backstage pass to a remarkable 50-year career of performing and recording.
Associates and luminaries provide personal insight into how the poor, music-obsessed boy from Houston, Texas went on to become a superstar with over 120 million albums sold worldwide. Singer, songwriter and producer Kim Carnes recalls how the New Christy Minstrels folk group - of which she and Kenny were members in the late 1960s - was like a 'school on the road' that provided them both with a springboard from which to explore other musical ambitions. Actor and musician Mickey Jones recounts his time with Kenny in the band The First Edition, whose hit single Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) made Kenny an unlikely poster boy for the psychedelic generation. Longtime friend Lionel Richie reveals how a trip to the bathroom played a crucial role in the recording session for Lady, one of Kenny's biggest hits.
Away from music, the programme reveals how Kenny's drive and ambition - what he describes as his 'impulsive-obsessive' nature - led to success in other fields: according to the renowned photographer John Sexton, the country music legend was determined to master the art of photography (Kenny was recently awarded an honorary Master of Photography degree by the Professional Photographers Association).
For over half a century, Kenny has kept us entertained with some of the best-known and best-loved music ever recorded. With a career spanning everything from jazz to folk, 60s psychedelia to R&B, perhaps his real legacy lies in the fact that he introduced a trailblazing pop sensibility to country music.
FRI 22:00 Country Kings at the BBC (p028vxj4)
Classic male country singers from the BBC vaults, journeying from The Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis to Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, and featuring classic songs and performances by Glen Campbell, Charley Pride, George Hamilton IV, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Johnny Cash, Eric Church and more. This 50 years-plus compilation is a chronological look at country kings as featured on BBC studio shows as varied as In Concert, Wogan, The Late Show and Later with Jools Holland, plus early variety shows presented by the likes of Lulu, Harry Secombe and Shirley Abicair.
FRI 23:00 Glastonbury (b04d8xv8)
2014
Dolly Parton
From the Glastonbury Festival, the complete set by the undisputed queen of country music Dolly Parton from the Pyramid Stage in the now-traditional legends spot on Sunday afternoon. As the Somerset sunshine shone, and in front of one of the biggest and most enthusiastic crowds that the Pyramid Stage has ever seen, Dolly performed a rousing and crowd-pleasing set including self-penned classics such as Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream and I Will Always Love You. A legendary moment that the Glastonbury crowd and hopefully Dolly Parton will never forget.
FRI 00:10 Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy (b01pwxs8)
In 2011, Glen Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and that he would be bowing out with a final album and farewell tour across Britain and America. This documentary tells Campbell's remarkable life story, from impoverished childhood in Arkansas to huge success, first as a guitarist and then as a singer, with great records like Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy. With comments from friends and colleagues, including songwriter Jimmy Webb and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, it is a moving story of success, disgrace and redemption as rich as any of the storylines in Campbell's most famous songs.
The peak of Glen Campbell's career was in 1975, when he topped the charts around the world with Rhinestone Cowboy, but his musical journey to that point is fascinating. A self-taught teenage prodigy on the guitar, by his mid-twenties Campbell was one of the top session guitarists in LA, a key member of the band of session players now known as The Wrecking Crew. He played on hundreds of tracks while working for producers like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, including Daydream Believer by The Monkees, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by The Righteous Brothers, Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley.
But Campbell always wanted to make it under his own name. A string of records failed to chart until, in 1967, he finally found his distinctive country pop sound with hits like Gentle on My Mind and By the Time I Get to Phoenix. The latter was written by Jimmy Webb, and together the two created a string of great records like Wichita Lineman and Galveston. Campbell pioneered country crossover and opened the way for artists like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
By the end of the 1960s, Campbell was the fastest rising star in American pop with his own television show and a starring role in the original version of True Grit. Over the following ten years, he had more success with Rhinestone Cowboy and Southern Nights, but his private life was in turmoil. Divorce, drink and drugs saw this clean-cut all-American hero fall from grace and a tempestuous relationship with country star Tanya Tucker was front-page news.
Despite a relapse in 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving and his police mug shot was shown around the world, the last two decades have been more settled. He remarried, started a new family and renewed his Christian faith, and was musically rediscovered by a new generation. Like his friend Johnny Cash, he released acclaimed new albums with young musicians, covering songs by contemporary artists like U2 and The Foo Fighters. Therefore the diagnosis with Alzheimer's was all the more poignant, but his dignified farewell has made him the public face of the disease in the USA.
The film includes contributions by many of Campbell's friends and colleagues, including his family in Arkansas, fellow session musicians Carol Kaye and Leon Russell, long-time friend and collaborator Jimmy Webb, former Monkee Mickey Dolenz, broadcaster Bob Harris, lyricist Don Black and country music writer Robert Oermann.
FRI 01:10 Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table (b04pl3kw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRI 02:10 Country Kings at the BBC (p028vxj4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
22:00 today]
FRI 03:10 In Concert (b00v7xjd)
Squeeze
David Hepworth introduces part of a live concert by Squeeze from 1982 at the Regal Theatre in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A303: Highway to the Sun
22:55 WED (b0116ly6)
Angelic Voices: The Choristers of Salisbury Cathedral
19:30 FRI (b01f6tb8)
ArtWorks Scotland
23:00 MON (b01c6hw2)
Bob Harris: My Nashville
00:15 SUN (p0293k6w)
Bon Jovi in Concert
00:55 WED (b03qlqr2)
Brad Paisley and Friends
01:15 SUN (p0295r5g)
Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War
20:00 THU (b01qsqd2)
Classic Albums
01:25 SAT (b04gvd9q)
Congo Calling: An African Orchestra in Britain
20:00 SUN (b04pkvpn)
Congo Calling: An African Orchestra in Britain
02:55 SUN (b04pkvpn)
Country Kings at the BBC
22:00 FRI (p028vxj4)
Country Kings at the BBC
02:10 FRI (p028vxj4)
Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance
21:00 MON (b04pw783)
Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance
03:00 MON (b04pw783)
Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance
22:30 THU (b04pw783)
Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World
02:30 TUE (b03srmm6)
Enigma
21:00 WED (b007cb5v)
Flamenco: Gypsy Soul
01:00 MON (p01dy1fk)
Glastonbury
23:00 FRI (b04d8xv8)
Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy
00:10 FRI (b01pwxs8)
Great American Rock Anthems: Turn it up to 11
23:55 WED (b03n2w37)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:30 MON (b00xhy37)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:30 TUE (b00xhynn)
Great British Railway Journeys
20:00 TUE (b00xxr1z)
Great British Railway Journeys
19:30 WED (b00xxr39)
Guitar Heroes at the BBC
00:25 SAT (b00lk48h)
Horizon
20:00 WED (b01d99vb)
Hunt vs Lauda: F1's Greatest Racing Rivals
22:00 TUE (b0377tb1)
In Concert
03:10 FRI (b00v7xjd)
Inspector Montalbano
21:00 SAT (b01ml8cd)
John Denver at Wembley Arena
02:15 SUN (b03jgq83)
Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music
23:15 SUN (p0295qy9)
Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table
21:00 FRI (b04pl3kw)
Kenny Rogers: Cards on the Table
01:10 FRI (b04pl3kw)
Krakatoa Revealed
22:35 SAT (b00791fm)
Lost Cities of the Ancients
20:00 MON (b00792tn)
Mark Lawson Talks To...
22:15 SUN (b04pvgkh)
National Treasures of Wales
20:30 TUE (b04pgc2y)
National Treasures of Wales
02:00 TUE (b04pgc2y)
Pop Go the Sixties
22:00 SUN (b00rgd4h)
Puppy Love
00:30 MON (b04p1vx3)
Puppy Love
22:00 THU (b04pl2mq)
Puppy Love
02:10 THU (b04pl2mq)
Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled
01:55 WED (b04p1vx1)
Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled
21:00 THU (b04pl2mn)
Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled
02:40 THU (b04pl2mn)
Sounds of the Eighties
02:25 SAT (b0074sn5)
Sounds of the Eighties
00:00 MON (b0074snw)
Sounds of the Eighties
01:40 THU (b04pw9xd)
Squeeze: Take Me I'm Yours
00:00 TUE (b01n8kmq)
Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions
19:00 SAT (b00gq43y)
Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions
23:25 SAT (b00gq43y)
The French Revolution: Tearing up History
02:55 WED (b042ttxl)
The Great War
19:00 SUN (b0074nyb)
The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill
22:00 MON (b04dzswb)
The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill
02:00 MON (b04dzswb)
The Many Faces of...
21:00 TUE (b018nvwc)
The Old Grey Whistle Test
23:30 THU (b014vzy3)
The Riviera: A History in Pictures
20:00 SAT (b01ps9jr)
The Riviera: A History in Pictures
03:00 SAT (b01ps9jr)
The Riviera: A History in Pictures
01:00 TUE (b01ps9jr)
The Sky at Night
21:00 SUN (b04pkvpq)
Top of the Pops
19:30 THU (b04pvhmr)
Top of the Pops
01:00 THU (b04pvhmr)
Totally British: 70s Rock 'n' Roll
23:00 TUE (b01r3pm9)
Wild
19:40 SUN (b0078yx9)
Wild
19:50 SUN (b0078z0j)
World News Today
19:00 MON (b04pj237)
World News Today
19:00 TUE (b04pj23d)
World News Today
19:00 WED (b04pj23k)
World News Today
19:00 THU (b04pj23w)
World News Today
19:00 FRI (b04pj248)