J.R.R. Tolkien

Leonardo da Vinci is considered by many to be one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Yet his reputation rests on only a handful of pictures - including the world's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.

David Dimbleby tells the dramatic and heroic story of Britain's architecture - the extraordinary buildings which grew out of the experiences and beliefs of the British people and define the nation. From magnificent cathedrals to Glasgow tenements, from the medieval castle to the hi-tech corporate HQ and from the splendours of the most palatial stately home to the urban terraced house; from the invention of our industrial cities to the cosy postwar prefab - not forgetting railways, bridges, canals and lidos - this is the story of a thousand years of change in Britain's buildings. How We Built Britain was a series of six television documentaries produced by the BBC in 2007 and repeated in 2008. The series was written and presented by broadcaster David Dimbleby. In the series Dimbleby visited some of Britain's great historic buildings and examined their impact on Britain's architectural and social history.

A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from the golden age of jazz. Featuring some of the greatest names in American music, including the godfather of New Orleans jazz Louis Armstrong, the King of Swing Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.

A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from some of Britain's greatest poets.

Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci is interviewed on the British television series about his film "The Last Emperor."

On the edge of the Arctic Circle some of the biggest names in art and architecture - including Zaha Hadid, Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono, Tatsuo Mihijima and Future Systems - recently gathered to produce an extraordinary collection of artworks made of ice and snow. See ice harvested by chainsaw, flaming vodka coursing through Hadid's ziggurat (and threatening to melt it) and Anish Kapoor get cross as his 'Red Solid' begins to look more like a pink slush puppy. Charlie Luxton investigates.

This unique recreation of an 18th-century home, in London's Spitalfields, has to be seen to be believed. Dan Cruickshank smells the rotting food and warms his hands by the roaring fires and asks whether this living museum is really more accurate than a National Trust treasure, or just an eccentric one-off from its outlandish Californian creator, the late Dennis Severs. A follow-up of sorts to the 1985 BBC series Ours to Keep episode "Incomers" focused on this residence.