Mike Loades climbs aboard a high-speed transport revolution. 250 years ago the Mail Coach was a sensation, the fastest vehicle on the road - carrying with it the promise of news from afar.
It was the symbol of a modern, more connected world - at the vanguard of a social revolution.
For the first time, letters could be sent from one end of the country to the other by return of post – instead of taking days, weeks , or even months. Newspapers published in London could be read in distant towns the following morning.
Mike makes a hands-on exploration into how this fabulous machine changed so many things that made the modern world possible, from communication and the spread of news, to the very roads we travel on today.
All aboard for a spectacular journey into history!
Up Next in Revolutions
-
The Uniform of the British Army
The British Army is one of the world’s most experienced fighting forces. From Blenheim to Waterloo, from Balaclava to the Somme, it has played its part in the history’s most bloody conflicts. But as these troops executed Herculean tasks in the worlds harshest terrains, what were they wearing? How...
-
Stourhead: The Grand Tour
Kicking off our new series, Great British Houses, we join Alice Loxton and Dan Snow on a journey through one of the gems of the National Trust’s collection, the magnificent Stourhead.
In this documentary Alice and Dan set off on a whirlwind tour of the social and cultural movements which influen...
-
Sir Joseph Banks: Pioneer of British ...
‘Dictator of British Botany’. ‘Autocrat of the Philosophers’. Sir Joseph Banks has been called many things over the past few centuries. A towering figure in the development of British botany and British natural history during the 18th century, he voyaged across the World with famous navigators su...
14 Comments