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Reel History of Britain: Episode 15: Britain's Secondary Modern Schools

Episode 15

Episode 15: Britain's Secondary Modern Schools

Britain's Secondary Modern Schools

BBC Two - Reel History of Britain, Britain's Secondary Modern Schools

The 1960s was a time when the eleven-plus exam could map out a child's future.

Archive footage telling the history of modern Britain. A look back to the 1960s when an exam, the eleven-plus, could map out a child's future.

Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country, to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, and tell the history of modern Britain. 

This episode comes from the Francis Combe Academy in Watford and looks back to the 1960s, a time when passing or failing an exam - the eleven-plus - could map out a child's future. 

Former Francis Combe pupil Bernie Batchelor comes face-to-face with his mischievous 12-year-old former self; former TV presenter Marylyn Mason explains how failing the eleven-plus drove her to work harder in later life, and pioneering film-maker John Krish, who made a documentary about this very school back in 1962, shares his memories of filming at the school.

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Factual: History

A showcase of British life in the 20th century told via film archive and viewers' memories

Presented by Melvyn Bragg, a social history of 20th-century Britain. Fascinating stories of how people worked and lived, via viewers' personal memories and rare film archive.

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