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Making History

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Factual: History

Popular history series where the past connects with the present.

Making History: The End of Steam. St Edmund. Southall Youth Movement

24/07/2018

The End of Steam. St Edmund. Southall Youth Movement

BBC Radio 4 - Making History, The End of Steam. St Edmund. Southall Youth Movement

Tom Holland asks if St Edmund is under a tennis court and hears about the end of steam.

Tom Holland casts his mind back 50 years to the end of steam, asks whether Saint Edmund could lie under a tennis court, and marks the impact of Southall's Youth Movement.

Tom Holland is joined by the history podcaster and stand-up comedian Iszi Lawrence.

In Britain's recent past, a long hot summer has often coincided with racial unrest on our streets - 1981 is perhaps the most notable example. But while we remember events in Brixton, Toxteth and Tottenham, have we forgotten the tensions in Southall during the 1960s and 70s which, some argue, paved the way for better race relations in the UK? Lovejit Dhaliwal visits a Heritge Lottery project in Southall re-examining the importance of the town's Youth Movement. 

King Edmund of East Anglia lost his life in a period of our history when the country we now know as England was still being defined. He was our patron saint until the 14th century but now he's largely forgotten - and so his is resting place. Historian Dr Francis Young has a hunch that he's still in Bury St Edmunds, not in a church but under a tennis court.

Fifty years ago, a programme that some know as 'dieselisation' reached its climax on Britain's railways and saw the end of steam in public service. Many mourn the passing of steam trains but, as Helen Castor found out on a trip to Swindon, keeping these beasts going was dirty, dangerous and laborious.

Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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