Absolute History

The Battle of Marston Moor on July 2nd, 1644 was one of the most important of the entire English Civil War. It was here that a force of some 27,000 Parliamentarian and Scottish troops routed an army of just 18,000 Royalists. Crucially, the Royalist stronghold of York was lost and King Charles' cause in the north virtually collapsed. It was a defeat from which the King would never recover.

Delve into the secret worlds hidden in museums in this series. Secrets of the Exhibit explores the sinister crimes, wild tales, strange findings, and shocking twists of history that altered the art world. From the diamond-encrusted slippers of an Indian Prince to stolen Renoir paintings, Secrets of the Exhibit goes beyond the surface to delve into how theft has shaped the world of heritage conservation.

The Victorian era was one of the most remarkable in British history; it saw The Industrial Revolution, the growth of major cities, the birth of the British Empire, and huge advances in medicine, transport, and education. It was also a time when harsh working conditions, child cruelty, and desperate poverty blighted the lives of the majority of the people of the country. Incorporating rare footage from the end of Queen Victoria's reign, this film presents an uncomplicated picture of the era, focusing on aspects of everyday life.

Eight men escape from the most isolated prison on earth. Only one man survives and the story he recounts shocks the British establishment to the core. This is the story of how one man endured the unimaginable by doing the unthinkable. The film follows the final days of Irish convict and bushranger Alexander Pearce as he awaits execution. In 1824, the British penal colony of Van Diemen's Land is little more than a living hell. Chained to a wall in the darkness of a cell under Hobart Gaol, Pearce is visited by Father Philip Conolly, the parish priest of the fledgling colony and a fellow Irishman. Pearce wishes to tell the priest his recollection of the horrors he endured in the three months spent traversing the brutal wilderness of Van Diemen's Land. Conolly struggles to reconcile his desire to grant absolution to the convict with the story Pearce tells him.

The two flinty syllables strike at the imagination like the sudden hard beat of an Andean drum: Inca. Their cities of gold, sun worship, and virgin sacrifice. It is the stuff of legend. Legends that for the most part remain hidden in the impenetrable no man's land of Peru's high country. For the better part of 400 years, people have searched the deep canyons and towering ice peaks of these mist-covered cloud forests trying to locate the lost cities of the Inca. They were all after one thing; gold. Any gold would do but there was one thing desired above all others, the Great Golden Disc of the Sun. The most sacred of all Inca relics. The Inca Holy Grail. It is in search of this Holy Grail that David Adams goes on his journey to Puncuyoc, the sacred Sister City of Machu Picchu; the city sought but never found by Hiram Bingham.

Much of the west coast of Australia was discovered by accident when Dutch treasure galleons crashed into its fringing coral reefs and left chests of gold and silver on the coral floor. Ben Cropp has discovered hundreds of shipwrecks, including the famous Pandora of Bounty fame but there are thousands more still hidden in a watery grave. For example, its believed the Japanese pirate Yamada Nagamasa buried his enormous loot on Magnetic Island. It is rumored to be worth $100 million, and has never been found. Ben finds a strange symbol carved in a prominent rock on Magnetic Island, opposite the only bay a ship could safely anchor in. Is this symbol the proverbial x marking the spot? So what became of all the gold and silver that fate often cruelly snatched from its rightful owners? Some were recovered, some lost forever, but much still remains for the intrepid treasure hunter who is prepared to research the facts, sift through the legends, and give it a try.

Earnest Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic departed on December 5th, 1914. This would be The Endurance crew's last contact with land for 497 days. What followed became one of the most miraculous stories of bravery and resilience in human history. Shackleton will always be remembered for saving his men, stranded at the ends of the earth, with "not a life lost".

When Captain Robert Falcon Scott embarked on his second and last expedition in 1910 he was already a famous Antarctic explorer. The Terra Nova expedition is best known for the courageous but ultimately ill fated attempt to race to the South Pole. Scott's party became the second expedition to reach the South Pole in 1912, but tragically all five members perished on the journey home.

We visit the wilds of Connemara to meet a homeowner who claims that his home played a central role in civilizing the wild west of Ireland. John D'Arcy, the descendant of the ancient fourteen tribes of Galway and founder of the capital of Connemara, may have been the architect of this humble lake house. As the town of Clifden approaches its 200-year-old anniversary, we will examine D'Arcy's lasting legacy on the people of Connemara.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh was at the height of his fame. The Queen admired the explorer for his bravery and good looks, despite his reckless behavior. Raleigh set sail for what he believed to be a "City of Gold" in South America. Raleigh then published an account of his journey in his book "El Dorado". But his reckless behavior eventually made him unpopular in court, and after three stints in the Tower of London's prison, he was beheaded.

In 1812, Mary Anning unearthed the remains of an unknown creature on a Dorset beach. Buried within the rock was the backbone of 60 vertebrae, a long tail, and a 4-foot skull with sharp teeth. It was the first complete prehistoric skeleton ever found in Britain. Anning's find would soon unlock a story that defied imagination. Her discovery of dinosaurs deeply shocked a society that believed the earth was created in 7 days.

Luggala Lodge in County Wicklow sits in a valley of spectacular beauty and is set against the breathtaking scenery of this ancient Wicklow valley. This legendary house has entertained and inspired royalty, musicians, poets, and artists. The house is tucked away in a magical valley, with 6,000 acres of breathtaking natural beauty. Luggala House has stood in the valley for 220 years since it was first built by the La Touche family in 1783. The house was bought by Lord Powerscourt in the 1860s and then, in 1937, sold to Ernest Guinness. It is his grandson, the honorable, Garech De Brún who lives here today. Garech's mother, Oonagh Guinness, is one of the famous three Guinness sisters. She held court in luggala attracting some of the most famous names in Ireland including Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, and Mick Jagger.

Every British schoolchild knows that Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe on the Golden Hind. Drake, a clever and fearless sailor in the new era of colonialism, was employed by the English aristocracy to amass great wealth through plunder and the slave trade. He was regarded by the English as a brave hero of the Elizabethan era who outwitted the fearsome Spaniards. But to the Spanish, Drake was a pirate who was so feared that they called him "The Dragon."

Teach An Spidéil is a fascinating house in the heart of Spiddal that has associations with Galway Sheriffs, Merchant Princes, John Wayne, and the Waterboys. Manchán takes a trip to Inis Mór to meet local historian Padraig - from this encounter, he can reveal to Donal Standún, the present owner of the house that it was in fact the Fitzpatricks of Inis Mór in 1650 (regarded in their day as Irish Princes of Trade) who were the first landowners of Spiddal House.

Christopher Columbus set sail with the honest intention of discovering a new trade route to Asia. However, as the realities of the continent he discovered became clearer, his greed and brutality took over. This shift in his behavior began the darkest chapter in Spanish colonial history, an era known as ''The Black Legend''. In a few short years, Columbus and his men turned paradise into hell.

Auguste Escoffier brought fine dining to Victorian London. He is known as the Chef of Kings and the King of Chefs. He truly made his mark when he became head chef of London's new Savoy Hotel on the Strand. His influence is still today at the heart of modern cuisine.

Often called the Galapagos of North America, the eight Channel Islands lay in plain sight of millions of people off the Southern California coast. Yet few know their names or even how many there are. And fewer still know the fascinating tales of those who have lived, worked, discovered, surfed, dived, ranched, wrecked, or were rescued on these unique and beautiful islands. Told in thirteen different tales.

Sir Tony Robinson takes us back nearly 2,000 years to a time when Britain was under the rule of the Roman Empire - a time of Roman soldiers, gladiators, and European slaves. The Roman Empire collapsed and so did their rule of Britain. But what happened next? Tony takes us through the aftermath of the Roman Empire's collapse and into the middle ages.

Why does Queen Victoria's Royal Pavilion look so different than other British royal palaces? What happened at the Seven Sisters Cliffs? What is a Smugglers Pub? Who wouldn't sit under a dragon? Where did Sherlock Holmes retire? And what does the Guinness family have to do with a medieval hotel?

His name has become synonymous with the term "womanizer". But a new perspective may shed a more positive light on the life of Giacomo Casanova. A true son of the renaissance, Casanova was a musician, a cleric, a spy and a lover. He led a tempestuous life where he amassed and lost fortunes, invented the National Lottery, fought duels with Counts, and had the most famous love life of all time. This dramatised documentary series is based upon a collection of letters left by Casanova in the library of Duchov Palace where he died at the age of 73, all but forgotten by a world that he had charmed, amazed and shocked only a few years before.

Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937 but what actually happened to her is still a mystery. Her story and achievements however still captivate, thanks in no small part to her younger sister Muriel. Their bond, forged in childhood and tested in adulthood, could not be broken by death.

This documentary follows the childhood of the two Princes and the impact their mother's death left on them. The popularity of Princess Diana meant the boys were always under the watchful eyes of the media, but this in-depth analysis of their early life offers a different perspective on their upbringing.

A gruesome tale set during the First World War, 'The Bluebeard Case' tells of a seemingly respectable man who targets single women and sets about seducing them, with the sole aim of murdering them. But it doesn't stop there. He goes on to burn their bodies on his stove in his house in France and finally strips them of all their assets. His name is Henri Désiré Landru. He is arrested during the investigations of two missing women, but what the police don't realize is that they've just stumbled across one of the most notorious criminals of the 20th Century...

Following in the footsteps of the Victorian publishing sensation, the JK Rowling of her day, Patricia travels from London to Scotland and the Lake District to discover what fired Beatrix's imagination and where her love and understanding of animals were born.

Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold explore the festive season as it would have been celebrated during the reign of the first Tudor King, Henry VII.

King Herod is regarded as the most fascinating and appalling figure of the biblical world. Shrouded in legend, the evil King is portrayed in every Christmas Nativity play as a monster who killed hundreds of babies and tried to slaughter the baby Jesus in order to retain his title - King of the Jews. But who was the real Herod? Was he real at all, or just a figure of myth?

Since Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, burying the city of Pompeii, it has been frozen in time. But now, more secrets behind the ancient Roman city are being revealed with the help of new technologies in Science Channel's Lost World Of Pompeii. Pompeii is a delicately conserved attraction that is under constant threat from the wear and tear of extensive tourism, the specter of landslides, and the possibility of another devastating eruption from Mount Vesuvius.

Tony Robinson takes us back in time to meet a 13-year-old girl who risked her lfe every day working 14-hour shifts in a match factory. This is the real, ugly story of the Victorian era.

Richard Roose, the Bishop of Rochester's cook, got caught up in the Anne Boleyn scandal and met a brutal end. The king's knacker Thomas Grimes was pressed into service as an executioner in the court of Henry VIII. This is the brutal story of life and death in England between the 16th and the 18th century.

The Dark Ages have been misunderstood. History has identified the period following the fall of the Roman Empire as a descent into barbarism - a terrible time when civilization stopped. This episode concentrates on the Vikings and their inventive craftsmanship, the expansive Carolingians' art of exquisite finesse and richness, and the skillful hardworking ingenious Anglo-Saxons. Januszczak shows the Viking skill in making ships and their attacks on Christian centers such as Lindisfarne not only to loot but to defend their own Norse gods. He visits the Jelling stones that commemorated the Danes' conversion to Christianity. Januszczak concludes that in the Dark Ages it was not the sword but the written word, whether in wood, stone, or what he considers the greatest masterpiece of all art, the Lindisfarne Gospels, that defined the age.

Tony Robinson reveals the grim occupations of workers from Georgian and Victorian era Britain. He will venture into the workhouses and factories to reveal the horrible conditions ordinary people were forced into. He also tries his hand at digging railways and rat-catching, as well as perhaps the worst job of them all, the tanner - a vocation that brought with it an intolerable stench and guaranteed social rejection.

After six years of research, working with archeologists, Egyptologists, geologists, and theologians, Simcha Jacobovici came to the groundbreaking conclusion that the Exodus took place hundreds of years earlier than previously thought. With this new timetable in hand, Jacobovici and his colleagues re-examined long-ignored archeological artifacts and uncovered the truth about the Exodus and the Egyptian dynasty that ruled at the time.

Along with Christianity, the Dark Ages saw the emergence of another religion — Islam. After emerging in the Near East, it spread across North Africa and into Europe in such a short time that there was originally no art. In more settled times, highly decorated mosques began to be built based on the prophet Mohammad's own home. Their architectural and scientific achievements, including the mapping of the stars, dwarfed anything existing in the western world. Januszczak visits the Dome of the Rock, desert palaces forgotten by modern Islam with their more sensual artwork, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun where it was believed Noah's Ark landed, and the Mosque of Cordoba. He identifies the Nilometer used to measure the flood of the Nile and uses an astrolabe that Muslims used to find the direction of Mecca.

The Baroque art tradition had spread across Europe, but England was still stuck in the middle ages. The renaissance hadn't even taken hold in England by the time Caravaggio was finding his fame. But alas, it finally did arrive in England. It found its climax through a tour of London's Hawksmoor churches, and Christopher Wren's iconic St Paul's Cathedral.

`Barbarians' are often blamed for the collapse of the Roman Empire, but in reality, they were fascinating civilizations that produced magnificent art. Focusing on the Huns, Vandals, and Goths, Waldemar follows each tribe's journey across Europe and discovers the incredible art they produced along the way.

We follow Baroque to its dark heart in Spain, focusing on the route of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and featuring star painters Velasquez, Caravaggio and Zurburan. Then we carry on through Belgium and Holland to discover such celebrities as Rubens and Vermeer.

Waldemar Januszczak argues that the period of history known as the Dark Ages was anything but. In the first episode, he looks at how Christianity emerged into the Roman Empire as an artistic force in the third and fourth centuries, without even any description of Jesus in the Bible. Christian artists drew on images of ancient gods for inspiration and developed new forms of architecture to contain their art.

Art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes viewers on an exploration of the Baroque tradition, citing its best examples starting in Italy. We begin at St Peter's in Rome and detail the birth of the Baroque tradition as it burst forth in Italy.

On October 26th 1859, on the last leg of her journey from Melbourne to Liverpool, the Royal Charter was wrecked in one of the worst storms ever to hit Britain. The loss of life was immense, but so too was the amount of gold on board. $130m worth: unearthed in Australia, lost at sea. Now, world champion gold hunter, Vince Thurkettle is on a mission; to recover the Royal Charter's lost treasure.

Matteo Ricci was the first European to be allowed into China's Forbidden City. Trained in geometry and algebra, a young Italian Jesuit priest would soon discover that cosmology and the art of measuring time were at the very center of Chinese civilization and imperial authority, the Emperor's Mandate of Heaven.

Matteo Ricci, a young Jesuit would be the first European to enter China at the end of the 16th century. Trained in geometry and algebra, he would soon discover that cosmology and the art of measuring time were at the very center of Chinese civilization and imperial authority, the Emperor's Mandate of Heaven.

Through animation, location footage, archive, and interviews, the Beowulf epic is examined in the light of the civilization that created it, the Anglo-Saxons. In this documentary, we investigate the Anglo-Saxons' religious beliefs, and their everyday life, and explore the suggestion that the poem may have roots in an even more ancient fertility cult.

A group of modern shopkeepers and their families are on the journey of a lifetime - they're taking over empty shops in a neglected market square in Shepton Mallet to see if they can turn back time for the British High Street. They'll live and trade through six key eras of history and in this episode they begin their journey in the 1870s when the high street was born. The shopkeepers make up the key trades; there's the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, and the grocer. Overseeing it all is an expert Chamber of Commerce, headed up by greengrocer and Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace.

The 21st-Century crafters have received their toughest set of challenges so far. Concentrating on the communal areas of the house they have to craft from scratch a heavy metal weather vane, and a decorative mirror, write, publish and print their own Arts and Crafts magazine and create a decorative pergola for the front of the house.

The life and loves of France's most famous king, Louis XIV. Dubbed the Sun King by his admiring court, Louis conquered half of Europe, conducted dozens of love affairs, and dazzled his contemporaries with his lavish entertainments. But perhaps his greatest achievement - and certainly his longest-lasting love - was the incredible palace he built at Versailles, one of the wonders of the world.

The crafters tackle the dining room in their creative communal home; leaving behind their 21st-century tools and techniques, they are set to craft from scratch a set of Tondino plates, a complete set of curtains, and a pair of ornamental fire dogs.

Rivers of sewage and horrifying living conditions turned one of the largest cities in America into Socialists. These "Sewage Socialists" cleaned up these diseased slums, helped the environment, and fought corruption in the midwest.

In this landmark living history series, a late 1800s Victorian arts and crafts commune in the Welsh hills has been painstakingly brought back to life as a group of 21st-century crafters move in to experience the highs and lows of living and working together as a creative commune. Anita Rani is joined by internationally renowned potter Keith Brymer Jones and arts and crafts expert and dealer Patch Rogers as the six crafters are faced with the challenge of breathing life back into the Victorian bedroom.