Radical Lives

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1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
- 3.1 Now is the Time: John Ball
- 3.2 Rights of Man: Thomas Paine
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
6 Links

[edit] General Information

History Documentary hosted by Melvyn Bragg, published by BBC in 2014 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Melvyn Bragg examines the lives, work and legacy of two men whose ideas have had tremendous consequences both in their own time and down the centuries.

[edit] Now is the Time: John Ball

Melvyn goes in search of John Ball - a man about whom little is known but whose words and beliefs galvanised the ordinary people of this country into unprecedented revolutionary action. Not only that, but he has been a marker through the centuries for other radicals - men and women determined to challenge the status quo and question injustice. He was a lone voice for many years, preaching his doctrine in the south east of England, persecuted by the Church authorities he despised. But it wasn't until 1381 that John Ball's radical fire took hold, when he joined forces with Wat Tyler in Kent and led a rebellion - the misnamed Peasants' Revolt.

[edit] Rights of Man: Thomas Paine

Melvyn tells the remarkable story of the 18th-century English radical political writer, Thomas Paine. Paine wrote three of the bestselling political essays of all time: Common Sense, Rights of Man and The Age of Reason. His books changed the world and helped shape modern democracy. He lit the fuse for the American Revolution, was an active participant in the French Revolution and laid the foundation for political reform in Britain. Melvyn travels from Norfolk to Philadelphia, New York and Paris as he follows in the footsteps of one of the great champions of democracy and human rights and shows how the freedoms we all now enjoy grew out of 18th-century Enlightenment thinking and were given popular voice in Paine's works.