This Sceptred Isle

This Sceptred Isle is a radio series written by historian Christopher Lee about the story of the lands and peoples of Britain by the British Broadcasting Corporation. It was produced by Pete Atkin and broadcast in 1995 twice each day–in the morning and late at night–on Radio 4. The series comprised 216 episodes, each 12–14 minutes long, and had a total duration of 46 hours. A 29-hour-long abridged version of the programmes has been issued on CD as part of the BBC Radio Collection.

The programme's title is a quotation from Act 2, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's play, King Richard II, attributed to John of Gaunt:

"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars ... This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England".

Beginning in 55 BC with the arrival of Julius Caesar and initially concluding in 1901 with the death of Queen Victoria, the series was read by Anna Massey and included extracts from the book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples written by Sir Winston Churchill, interwoven into Christopher Lee's main account of the history. The extracts were read by Paul Eddington, who died during the production and his role was taken by Peter Jeffrey. In total the series contained 216 episodes, ran 46 hours, and was first broadcast in daily episodes between June 1995 and June 1996.

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