The Price of the Past
A few weeks ago, a Victoria Cross, won at the battle of Rorke's Drift more than 100 years ago, was sold at auction in London.
In May, four pages from a medieval illuminated manuscript about the life of Saint Thomas Beckett changed hands for the first time in nearly 500 years. Both occasions were dominated by the vast sums of money paid out to purchase these fragments of the past. But there was precious little discussion of the actual political events that led to the battle in which James Dalton won his VC, or of the religious and social climate in which Matthew Paris wrote and illustrated his manuscripts, now so rare. Peter France introduces three films which explore the background to these historic items and the motivation of some of those who bid for them.
Producers ROBERT MARSHALL
ANTONIA BENEDEK , DENIS MORIARTY Editor ROY DAVIES