This Sceptred Isle, Vol. 1: Julius Caesar to William the Conqueror 55BC-1087

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC 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.Britain was at the edge of the known world when, under Emperor Claudius, the Romans brought to the island of Britannia a peaceful civilisation that was to last for 400 years. But when they left, their civilisation left with them and the centuries that followed are hence usually known as the Dark Ages.But those centuries were full of drama and action; they saw the invasion of the peoples who would become the English - the Angles, Saxons, Danes, Norwegians, and characters whose names have become legendary like Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Ethelred the Unready, Canute, Edward the Confessor, Harold and, eventually, William, Duke of Normandy - William the Conqueror.