‘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 such as Captain Cook, visiting far away lands such as Australia and bringing back a plethora of new plant species to Britain.

This, however, was only the beginning of Banks’ extraordinary career. Upon his return to England, he became President of the Royal Society, where his stellar career as a naturalist really began.

In this documentary Jordan Goodman and the Natural History Museum’s Dr Mark Carine tell the story of Joseph Banks and highlight why he has such a dominant legacy in the development of British botany. Produced by Iris Gibson.