Off-air recordings for week 2nd - 8th August 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

BBC4's London Tube night
including METROLAND, Poet Sir John Betjeman's celebrated 1973 documentary in which he extols the glories of the Metropolitan Line; ARENA: THE UNDERGROUND - Stories from the Underground, including that of Margaret Barnett, who sheltered in the Tube during WWII; 40 MINUTES: HEART OF THE ANGEL, Molly Dineen's RTS award-winning 1989 documentary about the men and women who work in Islington's Angel Tube station; DESIGN CLASSICS: LONDON UNDERGROUND MAP, Harry Beck's Tube map has transfixed travellers for nearly eighty years - find out the story of its making and of its enduring influence, and UNDER NIGHT STREETS - Classic atmospheric London Transport account of what happened at night on London's Underground, produced by Edgar Anstey.

The Genius of Charles Darwin 3-part series. Richard Dawkins presents the ultimate guide to Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection.

Voyages of Discovery 4/5 - The Figure of the Earth - Paul Rose tells the story of three 18th century Frenchmen who set off on a perilous mission to measure the shape of the planet.

The Man Who Walked Across the World 3 part series.
1. Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th Century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey.Beginning in north Africa, Tim visits Tangier in Morocco where Battutah was born and sees a performance of medieval trance music. In Egypt, he goes to a remote village where Battutah had a prophetic dream and visits the world's oldest university in Cairo.

2. In an effort to change the West's monolithic view of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th Century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey. He explores the place of Islam in Hindu-dominated India and communist China, and tells the story of the Islamic trade empire of the 14th century. In China, he meets a clan who trace their ancestry back to Arabs, and witnesses an illegal Arabic lesson.

3. In an effort to smash the West's monolithic view of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows in the footsteps of 14th century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battutah, who covered 75,000 miles, 40 countries and three continents in a 30-year odyssey. In Turkey, Tim watches an illegal whirling dervish ceremony, and in the Taurus mountains he meets the last of the Turkoman nomads. He chats to Tatars in Crimea, while in Delhi he watches a Muslim magician performing the Indian rope trick.

The Burning Season - Storyville documentaryt about a scheme to allow businesses to offset their emissions and protect vast swathes of Indonesia.

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

Please check the lists of programmes for previous weeks if you haven't already done so, as I am about to delete many of them from the DVD Hard Drive

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 26th July - 1st August 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

BBC4's Cab Night . Some of the programmes, such as Arena: Cab Driver, The Knowledge and Modern Times: Streetwise may be of more use/interest than the others.

Riddle of the Romanovs: Revealed - Historical documentary probing one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries. In 1918, Nicholas II of Russia and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks. Rumours that some of his children may have survived gained ground when investigators discovered that two bodies were missing from the family's grave.

Voyages of Discovery part 3 - THE ICE KING. In 1892 Fridtjof Nansen announced a seemingly suicidal plan to be first to the North Pole. He's now considered a forefather of polar exploration.

Travellers' Century - part 2 Laurie Lee. "Benedict Allen recreates Laurie Lee's 1935 journey across Spain as a 20-year-old penniless poet, a trip that was captured in his book As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning."

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 19-25 July 2008

Please email Rich Deakin < rdeakin@glos.ac.uk > if you would like any of the following programmes / series recording.*

To The World's End: Scenes and Characters on a London Bus Route - this is part of BBC4's Bus Night

Seven Wonders of the Muslim World - feature length documentary about Mecca, that builds on the people and themes introduced in the series of short films shown over the preceding week (I still have these too if required).

Arena: A Tall Story - How Salman Rushdie Pickled All of India - Salman Rushdie talks about India and Midnight's Children's autobiographical elements.

Battle of the Bishops - This World

Voyages of Discovery - Part 2 The Making of Captain Cook

Charles Wheeler - JFK: Legend and Leader / Charles Wheeler - Shadow Over Europe

Truth, Lies, Oil and Scotland - see also http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/4103 for more info.

Travellers' Century - Benedict Allen follows the stories of three of the greatest travel writers: Eric Newby, Laurie Lee and Patrick Fermor.

Please let me know if any of the other programmes in this Travel season are of use too.

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.

* This applies to staff members at the University of Gloucestershire only. Any recordings made are to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence.

Off-air recordings for week 12-18 July 2008

Please email me rdeakin@glos.ac.uk if you would like me to record any of the following programmes / series that are on, or begin next week.

Time Team Special: Swords, Skulls and Strongholds

The Real Knights of the Round Table: A Time Team Special

The following programmes are all part of Channel 4's forthcoming Islam Season

Seven Wonders of the Muslim World 6 part series

The Qur'an

Sharia TV - 4 part series. This year’s series of Sharia TV comes from New York, giving young Muslims the chance to discuss issues that affect them with experts drawn from a spectrum of Islamic opinion.

The following are fom BBC4's Journeys of Discovery season

Voyages of Discovery 5 part series

Sahara with Michael Palin 4 part series

The Thirties in Colour 4 part series - 1/4. A World Away. Part of the Journeys of Discovery season. In the 1930s, a series of new film processes, such as Technicolor, Dufaycolour and Kodachrome came onto the market enabling wealthy enthusiasts to film the world in colour. One of the first women to embrace the new technology was the wealthy heiress Rosie Newman, who used colour film to record her travels in India, Egypt, Europe and here in Britain - where she filmed an encounter with children who would figure prominently in the life of the nation in the years to come.

Alistair Cooke's Postcards from America

Unseen Alistair Cooke

Journeys into the Ring of Fire

If there are any other programmes that you would like recording please let me know and will see if I can accomodate your request.