David Starkey

The Kush Empire was an ancient superpower that dominated the Nile Valley and rivaled the Egyptians, and now, a new, cutting-edge investigation at a mysterious tomb could reveal the secrets of this formidable lost kingdom.

Experts challenge the view that Egypt is Africa's only 'great' civilisation, providing evidence that the Black Pharaohs' Kingdom of Kush was a major ancient African superpower.

Janina Ramirez explores the BBC archives to create a TV history of Leonardo Da Vinci, discovering what lies beneath the Mona Lisa and even how he acquired his anatomical knowledge.

David Starkey looks at the origins of Magna Carta, the document that has underpinned British liberties since it was created in 1215 to check the abuses of King John.

The sinking of the Lusitania and the impact it had in determining the fate of World War I is widely known. But few know the stories of the passengers and crew aboard the doomed luxury liner, or the German commander who ordered the deadly attack on May 7, 1915. Follow the final voyage of the massive ship, from her celebrated exit from New York's Pier 54 to her 18-minute plummet off the coast of Ireland. Through firsthand accounts, meet the men, women, and children who rode the "Greyhound of the Seas" into a war zone, and into history.

In 2009 metal-detecting enthusiast Terry Herbert discovered the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon treasure in the UK. Dan Snow travels across the old Kingdom of Mercia to unravel the secrets of the Staffordshire Hoard.

Monarchy is a Channel 4 British TV series, 2004-2006, by British academic David Starkey, charting the political and ideological history of the English monarchy from the Saxon period to modern times. The show also aired on PBS stations throughout the United States, courtesy of PBS-member station WNET. In Australia, all four seasons were broadcast on ABC1 from May 2005 onwards.

The history of Rome is a 1,000-year-long epic, filled with murder, ambition, betrayal and greed and encompassing such legendary characters as Rome’s Iron Age founders Romulus and Remus and its greatest general Julius Caesar. Larry is accompanied by some of Europe and America’s foremost classical experts who reveal the atmosphere of intrigue, conflict and violence at the places where the saga unfolded.