Sounds Of The 20th Century is an audio journey through five decades of triumph, tragedy and trivia in 50 hour-long episodes.

Each programme is dedicated to one year from 1951 to 2000 and features nothing that wasn't heard, seen or read at the time. There's no hindsight, no "I-heart-the-80s"-style reminiscences; just the music, the news, the radio, the TV and the movies as they were first experienced.

Jeremy Vine introduces 1955. A year when when a young singer called Elvis Presley starts to get noticed. BBC Television gets its first competitor with the arrival of ITV and shows like Take Your Pick and Dragnet. James Dean is killed before moviegoers have seen him in Rebel Without A Cause, Ruth Ellis becomes the last woman in Britain to be hanged and Kim Philby is unmasked as the Third Man.

The music comes from rock'n'rollers like Little Richard, Chuck Berry and - with his music for the controversial film Blackboard Jungle - Bill Haley. Show less