Anita Brookner, art historian, TV presenter and author of the Booker Prize-winning Hotel du Lac, added to her accomplishments in the 1980s by sharing with television audiences her understanding and appreciation for some of the finest works by the world’s greatest ever painters. In this collection, Anita’s contributions to the BBC’s 1981 series 100 Great Paintings are brought together in one place to create a masterclass in art appreciation, with her unique insights helping to increase our awareness of the cultural significance and creative processes behind works by the likes of Cezanne, Ingres, Delacroix and David.
When the first railroads were built some two hundred years ago, they brought about a revolutionary change for mankind, linking cities and countryside, driving the industrial revolution and irrevocably changing the landscape: a history of the railroad from its beginnings to the present day.
A discovery of the incredible musical journey of Yannis Spanos, setting off from small-town Kiato to major collaborations in Paris, and ultimately his huge success in Greece. With rare documents and interviews and through the eyes of a devoted fan, we explore why Spanos chose to stay behind the scenes, letting his music steal the spotlight.
In the first decades of the 20th century, when life was being transformed by scientific innovations, researchers made a thrilling new claim: they could tell whether someone was lying by using a machine. Popularly known as the “lie detector,” the device transformed police work, seized headlines and was extolled in movies, TV and comics as an infallible crime-fighting tool. Husbands and wives tested each other’s fidelity. Corporations routinely tested employees’ honesty and government workers were tested for loyalty and “morals.” But the promise of the polygraph turned dark, and the lie detector too often became an apparatus of fear and intimidation. Written and directed by Rob Rapley and executive produced by Cameo George, The Lie Detector is a tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.
Empire of Brazil, 1870. A queer indigenous body slowly dies on the cross while a transgender gypsy woman is banned by her people. A half-breed soldier stands in the middle of the way. A child and an old woman cross their stories like destined lines on the palm of a hand.
It all starts when Mrinmoy Ghosh (Kaushik Sen), the powerful head police officer in Hatimara, Jalpaiguri, known for hunting down Naxal insurgents in his area, is found dead at his residence. Arghya Sen (Prosenjit), a charming middle-aged bachelor, who takes Mrinmoy's son Amartya's art classes, visits their house when the mystery unfolds. On his arrival, he learns that not only has Mrinmoy been killed, but Kaberi Bhattacharya (Srabanti), Mrinmoy's beautiful sister, is also missing! Will the new officer-in-charge, Pritam Singh (Indraneil), be able to help Arghya and Mrinmoy's family track down Kaberi, and decode the clues behind Mrinmoy's murder, in the midst of a politically tumultuous era? Or will the drunk and irresponsible detective Gokul Debnath (Kaushik Ganguly) derail the investigations, and bring unforeseen truths to light?
A look at Britain's beloved canal network via a fact-filled cruise along the first superhighways of the Industrial Revolution. In the age before mechanisation, a frenzy of canal-building saw a new army of workers carve out the British landscape, digging out hundreds of miles of waterways using picks, shovels and muscle.
A reclusive lighthouse keeper has been living in the midst of the Wadden Sea for decades. When he discovers a stranded young man one day, his solitary world is disrupted. As they slowly build trust with each other, he attempts to overcome his isolation.
The history of Europeans in North America, from the arrival of Columbus in 1492 to the business success of German immigrants such as Heinz, Strauss or Friedrich Trumpf, Donald Trump's grandfather. During the 19th century, thirty million people — Germans, Irish, Scots, Russians, Hungarians, Italians and many others — left the old continent, fleeing poverty, racism or political repression, hoping to make a fortune and realize the American dream.
At the end of a brilliant career across the most prominent courts of late medieval Italy, legendary master at arms, Fiore dei Liberi, reminisces about some key episodes of his action packed life and teaches a skeptical young scribe a valuable lesson on survival while supervising the creation of his renowned “Fior di Battaglia” (The Flower of Battle) treatise on combat, which is studied worldwide today.