This Sceptred Isle, Vol. 8: Nelson, Wellington and Napoleon 1792-1815

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 Peter Jeffrey.France's attempts to export its 1789 revolution led to war all over Europe and beyond, raising the likes of Nelson and Wellington to the status of national hero as they led the resistance to the ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte. Their greatest triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo have justifiably become major landmarks in British history.For much of this time the political leader of Britain was the second William Pitt, Pitt the Younger, who had been only 24 years old when he became Prime Minister for the first time. It was Pitt who invented income tax as a democratic means of paying for the French wars and who had also to cope with another rebellion in Ireland (which this time led to union with Great Britain), with another war against Britain's former American colonies and with the problem of a king whose sanity was in serious question.