Add
Private Notes
Join Mark Steel as he charts Cromwell’s course through British
history; his election and resignation from parliament, the formation
of his New Model Army, the overthrow and subsequent execution of the
King, Charles I, the monumental shift of power from monarchy to
parliament, the abolition of the House of Lords right through to the
massacre at Drogheda. Oh, and the introduction of the first ever
pineapple to Britain.
Join Mark as he charts Chaplin’s course through 20th century
history, how through the initial success of the Little Tramp
character he managed to negotiate the right to direct his own films
and how this character came to be seen as a symbol of resistance to
the regimented rules of modern society. He transformed the way
comedy films were made, taking control of every aspect of the
production process; he taught himself to read music so he could
write his own film scores; he even insisted on having a pool of 21
trained studio dogs, all of whom were well versed in the art of
comic timing...
Join the award winning comedian Mark Steel as he charts Descartes
course through scientific history; his stint as a card shark in the
Dutch army, his invention of the little 2, the symbol used to
signify a squared number, his invention of the x and y used in
algebra. Not to mention his numerous biological experiments that
gave us first clear idea that the senses were linked to the central
nervous system and his seminal work, ‘The Meditations’ in which he
constructed a theory of the universe which instead of beginning
with blind faith, insisted on the prominence of doubt as a starting
point.
Not bad for a bloke with a rubbish catchphrase.
Join Mark Steel as he charts Chaucer’s course through history, his
appointments to the royal household, his kidnapping in France, his
marrying into the aristocracy, and how through the Canterbury Tales
he bequeathed to us the first written sign of an England that we’d
recognise today.
Harriet Tubman, described widely as the ‘Moses of her people’ was
instrumental in the efforts to abolish slavery in mid 19th century
America. Born into a life of bondage, she was forced into work at
five years of age and at 12 was horrifically injured by the
plantation overseer when he threw a lead weight at her head. At 27
and buoyed by stories of slave rebellions emerging across the
country, she escaped her Maryland plantation and headed Northwards
where she knew there were strong groups of Quakers and anti slavery
campaigners who were collectively known as the ‘Underground Railroad’.
Join the award winning comedian Mark Steel as he charts Harriet
Tubman’s course through American history; Her daring armed raids to
rescue fellow slaves, her inclusion into the Underground Railroad
network, her work with fellow abolitionist John Brown and her
special meetings with Abraham Lincoln’s wife.
The story of Harriet Tubman is a tale of one of America’s greatest
war heroes, a woman who fought against a real axis of evil to strike
a blow for freedom.
Walk down any high street in this country and chances are at some
point you’ll see somebody wearing a Che Guevara t shirt. Most of
whom have absolutely no idea who he was and what he stood for.
Still, it’s a nice image, and he was handsome…
Che Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928; initially he trained to
be a doctor but became politically conscious and abandoned his
vocation in order to travel across South America on the back of a
motorbike. It was in Mexico in 1955 that Che met a young Fidel
Castro who with his brother Raul had been exiled from his Cuban
homeland and was preparing for an uprising there by training a crack
squad of rebels in the Mexican countryside. This was Che’s calling.
It’s what he’d been waiting his whole life for. It was his destiny.
In this latest edition of his BAFTA nominated series of lectures,
writer and broadcaster Mark Steel travels to South America and turns
his attentions to the life and revolutionary times of Ernesto ‘Che’
Guevara, a man who started out on a motorcycle holiday, only to end
up being made Foreign Minister of Cuba. Which of course is nice work
if you can get it.
