In the first of three programmes showing how places have influenced political events, the leading historian of post-war Britain, Peter Hennessy visits Admiralty House in London.

The government building at the north end of Whitehall, close to Trafalgar Square, has frequently been the office and home of post-war prime ministers when 10 Downing Street has needed refurbishment.

Peter first recalls the momentous events of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and reveals that it was from Admiralty House that the dramatic order was given by prime minister Harold Macmillan for Britain's nuclear weapons to be put on standby for imminent launch. He also discusses the remarkable "Night of the Long Knives" that summer when Macmillan notoriously sacked a third of his Cabinet.

Thirty years later, during John Major's premiership, Peter shows how Admiralty House once again became the focus of worldwide political and public attention as the place where the United Kingdom's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (the ERM) finally collapsed in ignominy, causing lasting damage to the reputation and credibility of the recently-elected government.

Producer: Simon Coates. Show less