A History of the World in 100 Objects

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Factual: History

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells humanity's history through objects

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.

A History of the World in 100 Objects: The Silk Road And Beyond (400 - 700 AD): Sutton Hoo helmet

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Sutton Hoo helmet

The Silk Road And Beyond (400 - 700 AD)

A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus

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Neil MacGregor with one of the most sensational finds from Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Neil MacGregor's history of the world as told through objects arrives in 7th Century Suffolk. He describes the period through the famous Anglo-Saxon helmet from Sutton Hoo.

The history of the world as told through one hundred objects. This week Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, is exploring the world in the 7th Century, at a time when the teachings of Islam were transforming the Middle East and goods and ideas were flowing both ways along the tangle of connections that have become known as the Silk Road. 

But what was happening in Britain at this time? In today's programme, Neil travels to East Anglia to describe the sensational burial discovery that has been hailed as a "British Tutankhamen".  He tells the story of the Sutton Hoo helmet, the world it inhabited and the imagination it has inspired. The poet Seamus Heaney reflects on the helmet in the context of the great Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf, and the archaeologist Angus Wainwright describes the discovery of the great grave ship where the helmet was found.

Producer: Rebecca Stratford 


A History of the World in 100 Objects: The Silk Road And Beyond (400 - 700 AD)

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

Five objects from the British Museum tell the story of the movement of goods and ideas

Five objects from the British Museum tell the story of the movement of goods and ideas, along the Silk Road out of China, to Korea and even as far as East Anglia

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A History of the World in 100 Objects

The Silk Road And Beyond (400 - 700 AD)

Sutton Hoo helmet

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