This is Thanksgiving Day, when Americans thank Almighty God for their nation and their preservation. But Is it right that, by tradition, the Pilgrim Fathers are always remembered and honoured on this day of spiritual renewal? No, say the Virginians. It can now be proved that a little band of adventurers from Berkeley in Gloucestershire held the first official Thanksgiving Service on American soil in Virginia in 1619, a year and 17 days before the Mayflower even dropped anchor.
From the James River in Virgina and the River
Severn in Gloucestershire, Gwyn Richards reports on an extraordinary detective story involving long-lost papers and a retired
English parson, which is turning history on its head.
Producers JOCK GALLAGHER GWYN RICHARDS
BBC Birmingham long wave only