There is plenty of good history on TV at the moment. Tonight BBC2 begins showing its flagship programme "The Story of Science", ambitiously showing the history of science. The notes on the website state that it is "a tale of courage and of fear, of hope and disaster, of persistence and success", interweaving "great forces of history – revolutions, voyages of discovery and artistic movements – with practical, ingenious inventions and the dogged determination of experimenters and scientists". Tonight's episode focuses in particular on the growing realisation that the earth rotated around the sun, and not vice versa, and the impact of this on society, religion and culture.
Meanwhile BBC4 is showing several programmes about the impact of maps on history and their utility as sources for the period they represent. "Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession" examines maps from the Ancient World to Google Earth, and shows how they were used as tools to project political power and propaganda, such as the Romans' maps of the newest parts of the Empire that they had conquered. Meanwhile the "Beauty of Maps" does exactly what it says on the tin, looking in wonder at particular maps and examining some of their secrets. It has a special website where you can examine some of these for yourself.
If you watch any of these programmes, please post a review either as a comment below or in an email to us. We would love to hear what you think, or if you have any other recommendations.
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