Season 9

1982 · 17 episodes

Episodes

1John Paul II - The People's PopeBefore the autumn of 1978 few people outside Poland had heard of Karol Wojtyla , then quite suddenly, he was Pope. Today JOHN PAUL II is known to almost everyone. He has taken the Papacy out to the people of the world - jetting in to 20 different countries where he has been received by rapturous crowds. He has championed human rights in the Third World, supported Solidarity in Poland, and spread the protection of his Papacy to the poor and politically suppressed. He is adored by millions, yet he has his critics. They say he runs his Catholic Church with a rod of iron, is intolerant of dissenting discussion, has little understanding of today's women, and has absolute confidence in his own sure judgement on almost every issue. In this film Norman St John-Stevas visits Poland, Brazil and the Vatican to assess the impact of Jnhn Paul II and at an exclusive audience in Rome, talks to the Pope himself.
2Cancer: The Politics And The PuzzleWhat causes cancer -and how is it caused? Some people are convinced that vast numbers of people die from cancer contracted at their work place as a result of environmental factors such as synthetic chemicals. As a result of this belief, trade unions are exerting powerful political pressure to force industry to improve its safety standards. But what are the facts? If we could understand how cancer is caused, not only could we find out whether these worrying claims are correct, but we could also prevent cancer. In this programme two courageous men, jump jockey Bob Champion and sea captain Arthur Wilson, discuss what they know of the origins of their cancers-and the consequences.
3SurvivalistsMillions of Americans are determined to live through what they foresee as an inevitable nuclear war. Others are heading for camps in the remote back-country to escape the chaos of an impending political or economic cataclysm. They sing hymns, chant psalms of war, preach the survival of the fittest and arm themselves to the teeth. They are the Survivalists.... This film talks to women training with machine guns, to undergraduates taking courses in How to Stay Alive, to retired generals who run schools for mercenary killers, and to self-appointed clergy who say their native America has 'gone soft on the Devil and the Reds' and has become a 'Disneyland for Dummies'.
4John Paul's People - The British CatholicsFor four extraordinary days, Britain's television screens were filled with Catholic faces. Suddenly many of us realised we knew surprisingly little about our five million fellow citizens who happened also to be Catholics. Who exactly were they? What were their preoccupations? Were they somehow different from the rest of us? John Paul 's People answers some of those questions by considering the ideas and the lives of some individual Catholics.
524 Hours At Le Mans1982 will be the 50th anniversary of what is generally regarded as the greatest road race in the world ... Le Mans. Motor race, fun fair, sponsors' bonanza, death trap. Whatever it is, the 24-hour race at Le Mans has become a legend; for the driver, just to finish is an achievement; for the fans, to be there is a unique experience. For the race marshals and police there is little chance to relax, for when tragedy strikes it can be swift and terrible....
6The Danube Power GameJohann Strauss got it wrong. The Danube isn't blue. It is grey - and a killer. Fairytale villages, pinnacled castles, three capital cities - all carry the scars of past battles against the river's cataracts and massive floods. Now everything is changing. ROBERT SYMES , who grew up on the banks of the Danube, returns to uncover the amazing master plan for taming the river from Germany to Russia. It is also a plan that makes the Danube the centre of a new power struggle, one which could threaten the security of all of western Europe.
7Four Score Years And Then....More than half the hospital beds in the National Health Service are occupied by the elderly, and by the end of the century the proportion will be even higher. Four Score Years and Then ... is about one geriatric ward that gives its patients the medicine of hope. Ward 14 is a rehabilitation ward for the elderly in a south-west London hospital. It's run on the philosophy that the old and feeble have the right to choose how they want to live, even if it means letting them go home where they'll be at risk.
8Gordon Of KhartoumOn 26 January 1885, two days before his 52nd birthday, on the steps of the Governor's Palace in Khartoum, Charles George Gordon , Major-General in the British Army, Governor-General of the Sudan by commission of the Turkish ruler of Egypt, the Khedive, met his death in the morning at the hands of soldiers in the army of the Islamic Revolutionary Mohammad Ahmed Ibn Abdullah - the Mahdi.' With these words, spoken in a quiet school chapel in Surrey in front of a quaint Victorian painting, Robert Hardy begins this television portrait of one of the most famous and most controversial of British heroes. The story ranges across many conflicts and many continents before reaching its tragic climax, by the banks of the Nile.
9Why Was Cairo Calm?Cairo is calm today, surprisingly, extraordinarily calm' (WALTER CRONKITE , CBS News, 7 October 1981) Never has a Third World leader been as widely honoured in the West as was President Sadat. His funeral was attended by royalty, presidents, and prime ministers from all over the world. Yet, strangely, Egyptians themselves stayed away; they were - as Western journalists observed - extraordinarily calm, even apathetic. Why? Had Sadat, by moving on to the sophisticated stage of world statesmanship, lost touch with the simple hopes of his own people? Had he been seduced from the harsh realities of Egyptian poverty by the adulation accorded him by Western media? Had he forgotten his own hopes and promises of only a few years earlier? Had he become an almost inevitable target ... ?
10Dust To DustIt is a killer and affects thousands. It often appears on death certificates disguised as bronchitis. It is particular to certain towns in Lancashire. It was first identified, in The Lancet, more than a century ago. It is one of Britain's most serious occupational diseases-and one of the least recognised. It is byssinosis, caused by cotton dust which attacks a victim's ability to breathe. Its continued existence - at least 3,000 people have it - is a story in which employers, unions and Whitehall are all to blame. And generations of workers, in their stoicism, must also bear some responsibility. In the face of overwhelming evidence of the disease's causes and effects, no one has succeeded in more than 60 years in taking any effective step towards its control.
11There's Something Wrong With Our Bloody ShipsKenneth Griffith examines the Battle of Jutland, the only major gunnery engagement between Dreadnought Battleships, and explains how this fascinating and flawed battle came to be fought. The British public had expected a second Trafalgar - they were to be sadly disappointed.
12Barry Norman's Hong Kong QuestA lighthearted look at the blend of Western and Oriental influences on the Hong Kong Chinese. Written and presented by Barry Norman with comments from entertainers Frances Yip and Roman Tam; gourmet Willie Mark ; socialites Brenda and Kai-Bong Chau ; millionaire businessman Cyril Fung ; designer Kenneth Ko ; shipping magnate T. Y. Chao ; boutique-owner Joyce Ma ; and movie tycoon Sir Run Run Shaw ; plus an array of Chinese dancers, jugglers, fortune-tellers and gamblers.
13Barry Norman In Celebrity CityHollywood is still the home of the American Dream - the place where fame and fortune can be achieved overnight. Or so the story goes. For some it does come true. In this status-conscious town Barry Norman looks at the attitudes towards success and failure among the famous and the not quite so famous. Those taking part include Ali MacGraw, Angie Dickinson, Henry Winkler, Charlton Heston, Christopher Atkins & Linda Evans. Film cameraman John Goodyer. Film editor John House. Producer Judy Lindsay.
14Barry Norman: The Rank Charm SchoolBarry Norman tells the story of a famous training establishment for would-be stars in the 40s and 50s. The Rank Organisation called it 'The Company of Youth' but the Press quickly dubbed it 'The Charm School', where youngsters from varied backgrounds and with little or no acting experience, were put under contract at £10 a week and trained at a church hall next door to Rank's Highbury Studios. Taking part are former charm school students, Diana Dors, Pete Murray, Christopher Lee, Barbara Murray, Peggy Evans, Susan Beaumont and the Viscountess Rothermere plus publicity executive Theo Cowan, Rank's Director of Artists Olive Dodds, and producer Betty Box.
15Malta GCOn 15 April 1942 King George VI awarded the George Cross to Malta, 'To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the island fortress of Malta, to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history'. Tonight's documentary tells the story of the siege of Malta which began on 11 June 1940 and lasted until September 1942 - > 40 years ago. Narrator Ian Holm Director COLIN JONES Producer BRIAN JOHNSON
16From Our Delhi CorrespondentMark Tully was born in Calcutta during the last days of the British Raj. When he was nine years old the family returned to England. Since 1972 he has been the BBC's correspondent in India. As the Festival of India draws to a close, MARK TULLY looks at the country with the knowledge. experience and affection gained over many years. He is optimistic about India's future and puzzled that the image of India which prevails in the West is'one of poverty, corruption and over-population. For many the film will be full of surprises - India is the world's tenth largest industrial power, has the fourth largest army and is virtually self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods. Most of the Indians with whom Mark Tully speaks are openly critical about many aspects of their society, but share his fundamental optimism. It is above all the fact that Indians can criticise their country and their government without fear which gives Tully hope for the world's largest democracy.
17Who Killed The Lindbergh Baby?Fifty years ago on 1 March 1932 the baby son of world-famous American aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped from his home near Hopewell, New Jersey. Four years later a German immigrant carpenter, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, died in the electric chair convicted of the murder of the baby. At the time, and ever since, doubts have existed about the guilt of Hauptmann and today his 83-year-old widow is suing the State of New Jersey, alleging the wrongful execution of her husband. Ludovic Kennedy looks at the evidence only recently made public and at the circumstances in which Hauptmann was arrested, tried and convicted. He shows that those doubts are now more than ever justified.