Early Versions Episodes Available now
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Elizabeth I
Why didn't Queen Elizabeth l marry? A handwritten speech offers clues as to why
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Sumer Is Icumen In
How did a secular song end up being written and preserved by medieval monks?
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The Tracking Satyrs
The recovery and restoration of Sophocles' lost play The Tracking Satyrs
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Leonardo da Vinci
Why were Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks written backwards?
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Diamond Sutra
The remarkable discovery of the world's earliest printed book
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The Lindisfarne Gospels
The history of one of the most beautiful medieval books in Britain
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Codex Sinaiticus
The text of Codex Sinaiticus, a hand-written ancient copy of the Greek Bible
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Beowulf
The history of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf