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Private Notes
The discovery of a shipwreck off Salcombe in Devon, uncovers much more than a glittering haul of Islamic coins and jewellery - it also reveals a forgotten time, when coastal Europe lived in terror of the Barbary Pirates', buccaneers from North Africa. Was the wreck an infamous Barbaryxebec', on its way to another slave raid?
After ruling for more than 1,000 years and becoming masters of astronomy and architecture, the Maya abandoned their cities in the Central American jungle and vanished, creating one of history's most enduring mysteries. Here, archaeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor and her team of international experts journey into the snake-infested Guatemalan jungle to uncover the reasons behind the ancient civilisation's collapse, hoping that the discovery of the lost city of Naachtun will answer the 1,000-year-old riddle
An ambitious restaging of the Rainhill Locomotive Trials using replica engines, providing the rivals of Stephenson's Rocket with a fair chance to beat the famous locomotive : which won the original 1829 competition by default. Through this remarkable event, the story of the world's first inter-city railway is told : a tale of innovation and brinkmanship
Film about the man remembered as Egypt's last great pharaoh, using an ancient papyrus to reveal the dark workings of a leader in crisis. Shot in Cairo, Luxor and the Valley of the Queens, a story of conspiracy, vengeance and murder is uncovered.
Documentary examining how the whole nature of warfare changed after the first few months of the First World War, moving from initial traditional cavalry skirmishes between the German and British troops to trench warfare and stalemates that lasted the rest of the War. Looks at the reasons for this.
Concorde, the world's only supersonic jet, reached the end of its flying days in 2003, but the love affair between the public and the plane is likely to endure for many years longer.
This documentary reveals the inside story of how such a remarkable plane was designed and built, and how it survived against all odds to become an international icon and in the process changed
the face of air travel for ever.
Told by celebrity frequent fliers like David Frost and Henry Kissinger, by engineers, test pilots, stewardesses and charter passengers, this is the story of Concorde's life and death.
Battle re-enactments shot on location and dramatisation of Queen Victoria's journals illustrate the story of how, in what is now South Africa, Britain experienced a humiliating military defeat.
In January of 1953, unusual weather conditions caused Britain's worst national peacetime disaster of the 20th century. A storm surge flooded the eastern coast of England, killing more than 300 people and leaving thousands homeless. Fifty years later, 'Timewatch' re-examines a calamity which is largely forgotten today.
A profile of 19th-century circus strongman-turned-adventurer, Giovanni Belzoni, who was responsible for unearthing some of ancient Egypt's greatest treasures. Among his exploits was the discovery of the tomb at the heart of the great pyramid and the Temple of Abu Simbel. Sadly, a bitter feud with his employer meant he died in obscurity, while a rival claimed the fame.
The truth about the disappearance of the RAF's "most valuable pilot". In 1944, Wing Commander Adrian Warburton went missing in action, sparking a 60-year mystery. One of the most glamorous and highly decorated pilots of World War II, he was known as "Lawrence Arabia of the sky". He became a living legend on the besieged Mediterranean island of Malta, where he flew daredevil reconnaissance missions and fell in love with a beautiful cabaret dancer.
He disappeared during a controversial American mission over Germany and for decades speculation was rife about the reasons he vanished without trace. Theories ranged from suicide to racing back to Malta to be with his one true love. But in the summer of 2002, a diverse group of historians, archaeologists and air crash investigators from Europe and America began unraveling a series of seemingly unrelated investigations. But when pieced together, they created a compelling theory about Warburton's disappearance.
What caused a German historian and a Welsh hobbyist to realise they were on the right track? Why did a burnt roll of film seem to hold the most vital clue? How did the RAF conclude " beyond all reasonable doubt" that this was the man they were looking for?
Who was Piltdown Man?
Early in the twentieth century the story of Piltdown Man came out at just the time when British scientists were in a desperate race to find the missing link in the theory of evolution. Since Charles Darwin had published his theory on the origin of species in 1859, the hunt had been on for clues to the ancient ancestor that linked apes to humans.
Sensational finds of fossil ancestors, named Neanderthals, had already occurred in Germany and France. British Scientists, however, were desperate to prove that Britain had also played its part in the story of human evolution, and Piltdown Man was the answer to their prayers - because of him, Britain could claim to be the birthplace of mankind.
On 18 December 1912 newspapers throughout the world ran some sensational headlines - mostly along the lines of: 'Missing Link Found - Darwin's Theory Proved'.
That same day, at a meeting of the Geological Society in London, fragments of a fossil skull and jawbone were unveiled to the world. These fragments were quickly attributed to 'the earliest Englishman - Piltdown Man', although the find was officially named Eoanthropus dawsoni after its discoverer, Charles Dawson. Dawson was an amateur archaeologist, said to have stumbled across the skull in a gravel pit at
Barkham Manor, Piltdown, in Sussex.
Some forty years later a team of English scientists attempted to discover if Piltdown Man was genuine or a deliberate fraud. So what had really happened?
A re-examination of the World War One Gallipoli landings, which were designed to break the deadlock of the 1915 Western Front, but became a massive blunder claiming 250,000 Allied casualties and almost destroying Churchill's burgeoning political career. Featuring underwater footage of submerged British battleships, and interviews with relatives of those who fought and died.
A dramatised documentary following the experiences of Henry Metelmann a German soldier caught up in the most destructive conflict in history - Hitlers invasion of Russia. The film travels the route that Metelmann and his fellow soldiers took and sees how the choices he made meant he emerged from the war a brutalised man. The film is Metalmanns confession.
