Ray’s History Radio & TV Picks. No.2016/07. 19 Feb 2016.

Kipling’s Indian Adventure
BBC Two: Sat 20 Feb 2016, 21.15 – 22.15
In 1882, 16-year-old Rudyard Kipling set sail from Tilbury to the land of his birth, IndiaPatrick Hennessey follows in Kipling’s footsteps and profiles an adventurer and rebel who did so much to shape how we see India. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071xz0p

Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands
ITV: Sun 21 Feb 2016, 19.00 – 20.00. 8 / 12: Fantasy drama series.
Will a shocking shift in events prove too much for Slean to Bear? http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/dzt4v5/beowulf-return-to-the-shieldlands–series-1-episode-8

Benjamin Franklin in London: Omnibus
BBC Radio 4 Extra: Sun 21 Feb 2016, 09.00 – 10.10. Omnibus edition of previous Book of the Week.
In the middle of the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin spent almost two decades in London – at exactly the same time as Mozart, Casanova and Handel. This biography by George Goodwin is an account not only of the man, but of the city when it was a hub of Enlightenment activity. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071c4l0

The Renaissance Unchained
BBC Four: Mon 22 Feb 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 2 / 4.
For episode two of his revisionist take on the Renaissance, Waldemar Januszczak focuses on Italy. The influence of the classical world is often emphasised in appreciations of Giotto and those who followed, but Januszczak is more interested in how the work of Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael was meant to inspire religious devotion. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071gsdv

Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer?
BBC Four: Mon 22 Feb 2016, 22.00 – 23.00. 1 / 2. Repeat of 2009 broadcast.
In the first of a two-part documentary, architectural historian Jonathan Foyle looks at the palaces, tapestries, music and paintings created in Henry’s name and questions whether the art he commissioned compensates for the religious treasures he would come to destroy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00l7qdh

Making History
BBC Radio 4: Tue 23 Feb 2016, 15.00 – 15.30. 3 / 8.
With Syria in turmoil and its largest city battered, Tom Holland is joined by Philip Mansel and Professor Jerry Brotton to discover an age when this place was a cosmopolitan cornerstone of the Middle East. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0714nhw

Verdun – The Sacred Wound
BBC Radio 4: Wed 24 Feb 2016, 11.00 – 11.30. 2 / 2: The Sacred Wound.
Professor David Reynolds concludes his history of the battle of Verdun (February–December 1916) and its aftermath. Why did this attritional meeting between French and German forces do so much to shape both countries? Reynolds also looks at how a battle associated with French national remembrance took on new symbolism amidst efforts to rebuild Europe post-1945. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070fdj5

In Our Time: Mary Magdalene
BBC Radio 4: Thu 25 Feb 09.00 – 09.45.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mary Magdalene, one of the best-known figures in the Bible who has been a frequent inspiration to artists and writers over the last 2000 years. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0717j1r

The Story of China
BBC Two: Thu 25 Jan 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 6 / 6: The Age of Revolution.
Michael Wood concludes his epic series by considering how violent revolutions – including the Taiping and Boxer rebellions – are key to understanding modern China. As well as following in Mao’s Long March footsteps, Wood meets a survivor of the Japanese massacre in Nanjing in 1937. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07216nl

See Michael Wood’s ‘The Six Ages of China’ here: http://www.historyextra.com/article/premium/six-ages-china

Jericho
ITV: Thu 27 Feb 2016, 21.00 – 22.00. 8 / 8:
Drama series is set in the 1870s Yorkshire Dales shantytown of Jericho, home to a community that will live, thrive and die in the shadow of the viaduct they’ve been brought together to build. In this final episode an accident leaves Coates holding the lives of Johnny & Charles in his hands: http://www.radiotimes.com/programme/dvd6v6/jericho/episodeguide/series-1

World War Two: A Timewatch Guide
BBC Four: Thu 27 Feb 2016, 21.00 – 22.00
Military historian Saul David takes a trawl through the BBC archives to see how our view of the Second World War has changed over the past 70 years. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071gx2c