High on the peak of the Cotswolds stands one of the most remarkable buildings in Britain. Built as a folly in the final days of the 18th century, Broadway Tower sprung up during the height of the French Revolutionary Wars under the distracted watch of the architect James Wyatt. In the following years Wyatt’s “Saxon Castle” became a lighthouse of learning (housing the printing press of the notorious Sir Thomas Phillipps) and later in the 19th century it became an eccentric summer retreat for William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. In the 20th century, the tower became a Royal Observer Corps lookout post and site of a tragic air crash which was recognised by Churchill himself. Despite this eclectic history, Broadway Tower remains (as a young printer once described it) “the most delightful situation imagination can conceive”. History Hit's Alice Loxton pays a visit to this folly.
For generations, Drake's Island, situated just outside of Plymouth harbour, had been owned by the Ministry of Defence. Recently, however, this island bastion has gone into private ownership. In this documentary Bob King, the gatekeeper of Drake's Island, gives Dan an exclusive tour of this extrem...
For more than 900 years, the Tower of London has occupied its place at the heart of English life. At various times a royal citadel, palace, menagerie, observatory, public records office, mint, arsenal and, even to this day, the home of the crown jewels of England, since 1100 it has famously serve...
Sir David Cannadine shows Dan around the iconic Westminster Abbey, in the heart of London. With an unrivalled arrange of monuments - ranging from grand royal tombs to the grave of The Unknown Warrior - and spectacular architecture spanning nearly 1,000 years, join the two historians as they explo...
