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Writer and broadcaster Jeremy Paxman鈥檚 vivid and compelling social history of how coal 'made' Britain read by Adrian Scarborough.

Episode One: A Rock that Burns

It was Britain's good fortune to be blessed with rich seams of anthracite and the ambition and hard labour of her inhabitants to turn it into the nation's powerhouse. From Roman times to the late 20th century, Paxman explores the stories of the engineers and inventors, landowners, entrepreneurs and industrialists who saw the potential for innovation and wealth. For centuries it was the driving force behind our economy and trade and the preoccupation of politicians. It fuelled the industrial revolution producing everything from carriage wheels to needles, it warmed and lit the nation鈥檚 homes and powered our steam trains and ships.

Underpinning all of this and central to Paxman鈥檚 book is the history of the miners themselves who toiled in appalling conditions to hack the coal from the underground seams and the mining communities that formed around the pitheads. He also explores the terrible human cost of coal with the filthy, polluting air it produced as it burned and the inevitable and multiple accidents that happened to those working underground.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton and produced by Julian Wilkinson.