The first of eight programmes looking behind the doors of Westminster and Parliament. Narrated by Anthony Quayle
For more than a thousand years Westminster has been a Royal Palace. Kings called their first Parliaments there in the 13th century when they needed to raise money. Since then our Parliamentary system has developed against a colourful history of arrogant kings and a wilful Parliament. King Charles I was condemned to death at Westminster, and Guy Fawkes met his agonising death within the walls of the Palace which he had tried to blow up. When Queen Elizabeth comes to open her Parliament the preparations are impeccable and the ceremony unchanged since Queen Victoria's reign. For the first time, cameras have been allowed inside the Palace to tell the story of one of the most extraordinary buildings in the world.
Subtitles on Ceefax page 270