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MP3 file, 3 min 50 sec, 3.52 MB
The British Library and British Museum Singers (Director Peter Hellyer) perform the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah in the Entrance Hall to celebrate our new Turning the Pages virtual book. The manuscript of Messiah is on public display in the British Library's galleries.
Recorded 14 December 2009
MP3 file, 3 min 48 sec, 1.53 MB
MP3 file, 10 mins 05 secs, 4.04 MB
The Great Bible, produced for Henry VIII in 1541, was the first authorised Bible in English. The illustration on the frontispiece, showing Henry taking the Word from God and passing it down to the people, is impressive enough. But as Richard Rex of Queens' College, Cambridge, tells Rob Ainsley, what's hidden behind its surface reveals much about Henry, his religion, and his politics.
MP3 file, 61 minutes, 24.39 MB
In the third and final lecture of this enthralling series David Starkey examines the paradox of Henry's life. For the divorce from Katherine of Aragon and break from Rome, which wrecked his character, also laid the foundations for the great achievements of his reign.
Recorded on 30 June 2009
MP3 file, 57 mins 38 secs, 23.09 MB
The second lecture looks at the change in Henry: from the ideal prince at the time of his accession, with his high ideals of virtue, glory and immortality, to the tyrant of his maturity. It blames the crisis of his divorce, which split his family and destroyed his closest friendships.
Recorded on 2 June 2009
MP3 file, 4 mins 35 secs, 4.2 MB
The British Library and British Museum Singers (Director Peter Hellyer) was one of a number of choirs throughout the UK that performed Mendelssohn's 'O for the Wings of a Dove' as part of BBC Radio 3's celebrations to mark 200 years since the composer's birth.
Recorded 10 May 2009
MP3 file, 65 minutes, 26.17 MB
This lecture deals with Henry's upbringing as a second son, his education and induction into chivalry, the dominant figures of his childhood and youth, the tensions with his father and his accession.
Recorded on 12 May 2009
MP3 file, 14 minutes , 5.79 MB
Hunter Davies talks with Head of Modern Literary Manuscripts Jamie Andrews about a previously unseen George Harrison lyric now on display in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library.
MP3 file, 17 mins 31 secs, 7.02 MB
Music was a vital part of the young king's life. Hear music written for him, including the Rose Canon in full, and some of Henry's own compositions. Experts discuss him, his musical world, and its significance. With Nicolas Bell and David Skinner, introduced by Andrea Clarke.
Extracts from Henry's Music (Obsidian CD705) courtesy of Obsidian Records. Buy from the British Library Shop or www.obsidianrecords.co.uk
MP3 file, 7 mins 34 sec, 3.04 MB
Among Henry VIII's less-recognised achievements was to pioneer modern cartography. Tudor maps expert Peter Barber explains how Henry changed maps, and how maps changed England. Introduced by Andrea Clarke.
Extracts from 'Henry's Music' (Obsidian CD705) courtesy of Obsidian Records. Buy from the British Library Shop or www.obsidianrecords.co.uk
MP3 file, 9 minutes, 3.6 MB
Slavery researcher Nigel Sadler talks about what this iconic document, along with the other anti-slavery items in the Taking Liberties exhibition, says about the campaign to outlaw the vile trade in human beings – and what it doesn't say
MP3 file, 7 mins, 2.57 MB
Curator Kristian Jensen talks about how this 1957 report that eventually helped legalise homosexuality set an important and unusual benchmark for our application of human rights.
MP3 file, 9 minutes, 3.38 MB
Curator Matthew Shaw talks about how Thomas Paine's radical 1791 book helped change the world.
MP3 file, 10 minutes, 3.98 MB
The world's 'oldest complete Bible' is more than 'merely' a priceless third-century text. It is also, as the British Library's Head of Western Manuscripts Scot McKendrick explains, a record of how the Biblical text evolved over centuries, as well as a book of unique emotional and spiritual significance to many people
MP3 file, 13 minutes, 5.14 MB
An awe-inspiring Qur'an written entirely in gold, illustrated by a eunuch, and commissioned by a Sultan who ruled for just a year before being executed... Royal Asiatic Society Curator Alison Ohta tells the extraordinary history behind an extraordinary sacred text.
MP3 file, 7 minutes, 2.77 MB
The wedding certificate of Bahadur Shah II is one of our most intriguing sacred texts. The last of the Mughal kings, deemed a fine poet but a political failure, he died in obscurity and despair. But, as his recent biographer William Dalrymple explains, his reputation is due for reappraisal.
MP3 file, 15 minutes, 5.84 MB
Moira Goff, Head of British Collections 1501-1800, has a great affection for the pocket-sized printed book that caused decades of controversy and intrigue, and she reveals its links with Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Shakespeare and Handel.
MP3 file, 12 minutes, 4.65 MB
Juan Garcés, Curator for the Codex Sinaiticus Project at the British Library, talks about the curious past and exciting future of this remarkable manuscript: one of the oldest two complete Bibles in existence, possibly commissioned by Constantine in the fourth century as a 'master copy' for all Bibles.
MP3 file, 9 minutes, 8.86 MB
Michelle Brown, former British Library curator and leading expert on illuminated manuscripts, introduces a new facsimile of the lavishly illustrated 14th-century Holkham Bible, a unique and humorous record in pictures of everyday life in London of Chaucer's time. It not only tells the story of Jesus, but also features the artist himself in a cameo, crooked barmaids getting their comeuppance, and complaints about working weekends.
MP3 file, 4 minutes, 1.63 MB
Curator Matthew Shaw talks about some of the remarkable documents on show in the Library's forthcoming exhibition on Britain's struggle for freedoms and rights (31 Oct-1 Mar): from Magna Carta, through the Rights of Man and suffragette diaries, to today's debates about human rights, ID cards, and detention without trial.
Recorded on 18 Sep 2008
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