This superb two episode series masterfully charts the writings and influence of two of the greatest English radical thinkers of the last 1000 years; two men united in their belief of freedom and democracy and yet separated by an immense expanse of time.
John Ball, a preacher and cleric, inspired the downtrodden serfs of 'Merrie Olde England' to rebel against their landed gentry masters and strike hard against tyranny and the inherited structures of medieval Britain to try and gain personal freedom. Englishman Thomas Paine, hundreds of years later, inspired many but ultimately most successfully, the over-taxed, over-lorded Americans to fight for a noble independence from both the British crown and parliament which was won so magnificently in 1783.
Also inspirational in the French Revolution, Thomas Paine skirted controversy in France, even risking his life for expressing his convictions and Melvyn Bragg brilliantly describes this perilous navigation. We learn that John Ball was to trail a similar journey many years before with an equal threat of personal danger from many quarters, including from his own, albeit ex-communicating, church.
An essential TV work that serves not as a slave to democracy, but as an explanation and validation as to why democracy and liberty is still keenly fought for in the more unsettled parts of our planet even today. Quality television has never felt more relevant or required in these days of a vote for Scottish Independence or the Gaza crisis.
This fine notion of democracy and freedom is forever one to keep in mind as we the electorate cast our votes; for the betterment of mankind does still reside in own hands, even if for many that power is simply exercised at the Ballot Box.
John Ball, a preacher and cleric, inspired the downtrodden serfs of 'Merrie Olde England' to rebel against their landed gentry masters and strike hard against tyranny and the inherited structures of medieval Britain to try and gain personal freedom. Englishman Thomas Paine, hundreds of years later, inspired many but ultimately most successfully, the over-taxed, over-lorded Americans to fight for a noble independence from both the British crown and parliament which was won so magnificently in 1783.
Also inspirational in the French Revolution, Thomas Paine skirted controversy in France, even risking his life for expressing his convictions and Melvyn Bragg brilliantly describes this perilous navigation. We learn that John Ball was to trail a similar journey many years before with an equal threat of personal danger from many quarters, including from his own, albeit ex-communicating, church.
An essential TV work that serves not as a slave to democracy, but as an explanation and validation as to why democracy and liberty is still keenly fought for in the more unsettled parts of our planet even today. Quality television has never felt more relevant or required in these days of a vote for Scottish Independence or the Gaza crisis.
This fine notion of democracy and freedom is forever one to keep in mind as we the electorate cast our votes; for the betterment of mankind does still reside in own hands, even if for many that power is simply exercised at the Ballot Box.
