Roger May
This true, astonishing story of what King Leopold II did in the Congo was forgotten for over 50 years. "Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death" describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned the Congo into his private colony between 1885 and 1908. Under his control, Congo became a gulag labour camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber. From the mid-1880s and lasting for nearly 40 years, an estimated 10 million Congolese were killed under Leopold's reign. The madness only came to an end thanks to the efforts of British journalist and humanitarian E.D. Morel, who exposed the human rights abuses in Congo and published photographs of the mutilated Congolese.
Based on a true story, set in the late 19th century: Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwreck. Some years later his erudite Afro-English valet, Bogle, is sent to investigate rumors that Tichborne survived and settled in Australia. An alcoholic ruffian answer's Bogle's inquiries claiming to be the lost heir. Bogle suspects fraud, but conspires with the claimant to split the inheritance should the latter succesfully pass himself off to friends, family and the courts. As the claimant returns to England to continue his charade, enough people confirm his identity to make both the claimant and Bogle believe that he just might be the rightful heir after all.
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Spithead, Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, a 17 year old midshipman takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.
Jonathan Cake, Jemma Redgrave and Hugh Bonneville lead an outstanding cast in this mini-series tracing the turbulent political career and tempestuous private life of Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists during the 1930s. The mini series charts Mosley's rise to political notoriety through his personal life – from youthful rising star of the Conservative Party to potential leader of the Labour Party, and later abandonment of conventional party politics to become a figurehead of burgeoning fascism.
Passions erupt between a German hussar (Jean-Marc Barr) serving with King George III's personal cavalry and the only daughter of an English solicitor (Emma Fielding) in this period tearjerker adapted from a short story by Thomas Hardy. Longing to escape their own personal imprisonments -- he, his service to the king, and she, her engagement to a man she doesn't love -- they find solace in each other's arms.
