It's 1999 and the Dutch journalist Geert Mak, is travelling through Europe reflecting on the history of the last 100 years. Today, he takes in St Petersburg's faded grandeur and looks back to the moment in 1917 when Lenin first arrived in the city when it was called Petrograd. Nicholas Farrell reads.

As the new millennium was about to dawn Geert Mak was commissioned by the newspaper he worked for to write a series of articles assessing the shape Europe was in and the legacy left behind by the twentieth century's turbulent history. Mak travelled back and forth all over the continent, painting a lively and engaging portrait of the places he visited and the people he encountered who shared their stories with him.

Abridged by Rowan Routh
Produced by Elizabeth Allard. Show less