The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, specially written for BBC Radio 4 by Christopher Lee, narrated by Anna Massey and featuring extracts from Sir Winston Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples read by Paul Eddington.

King Edward III was only 14 years old when he succeeded to the throne of England in 1327. His reign was to last for 50 years bringing with it the start of the Hundred Years' War with France and the famous triumphs for his son Edward, the Black Prince, at Crecy and Poitiers.

Edward was succeeded by Richard II - the start of a period of history perhaps most familiar from Shakespeare's versions: the Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler, Owen Glendower, Henry IV, Hotspur, Henry V, Agincourt, Henry VI, Joan of Arc, the Wars of the Roses culminating in the deaths of the Princes in the Tower and Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. It was also the beginning of the Tudor period with first, King Henry VII and then his larger-than-life son, Henry VIII