Michael Wood's Story of England (DVD)

This series takes an unusual approach, to look at the history of England from prehistoric times to the present, through archeology and other explorations in one village enar the centre of the island. Residents were recruited to help dig trenches, which turned up many interesting results that are the backbone of this 4 part series. Other sources, such as documents in various libraries, genetic studies, maps or conversations with historians flesh things out.I live in Canada, where history is very recent, and often leaves little or no trace. To see the depth of history in one small English town was mind-blowing.Michael Wood is one of my favourite presenters, and he's superb here. He can talk as an equal with scholars and experts, and be exuberant and excited with the locals about finding direct links to their ancestors in their own backyards or their DNA.This series is excellent. Not in-depth about any one period, but it conveys the panorama of English history and brings it home to individuals and their stories, how towns grow and decline, how events impacted on real people. It also touches on the many methods available to archeologists, historians and scientists as they trace history. I highly recommend it!

Once again, Michael Wood shows why he is one of the best story tellers around. He tells a story of English life over 2,000 years from a completely unique perspective. He involves an entire modern town in telling their own story through the "grunt" work of actually opening up dozens of small archaeological digs around the town, and then researching local written records to tie the artifacts found to the past lives of numerous local inhabitants through the long history of this place. He even goes so far as to have particular townspeople take on the roles of real-life characters from the past and sort of become them. All of this in order to discover who the modern people are and how and why they came to be the way they are. A wonderful story that will grip you when you hear and see it. Definitely worth the time to watch and thoroughly enjoy.

Kibworth, Leicestershire, is an English village that presenter Michael Wood believes encapsulates the whole history of a nation. Just dig a hole behind the pub "Coach and Horse," and you'll unearth evidence that people lived in the village for thousands of years; a coin is found that features the Emperor Augustine, dating to the 330's A.D. The Hallaton Treasure from the 1st century is discussed, while an Anglo-Saxon comb dating from 500 A.D. is discovered, along with Rhineland glass beads. Wood ties Kibworth's history to Offa, a Mercian king who was a contemporary of Charlemagne. Wood can be a bit neo-Marxist in his social/historical interpretations at times. He also places an "us versus them" template over the relationship between Normans and Anglo-Saxons that doesn't reflect the social complexities in that these groups were already intermarrying prior to the invasion. Certainly the Norman's dominated the social hierarchy of the Saxons, but the picture is perhaps not as black and white as portrayed by Wood. Outside of Kibworth, powerful Anglo-Saxon families married into Norman hierarchy, even adopting Norman names and culture (such as the Neville family, with ties to ancient Scottish, Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Norwegian kingdoms), whilst retaining enormous power.This series shines when Wood carefully explains the connections between villagers and their small shareholdings of land, their lives revolved around the church, the seasons, and their plots of earth. I wish there was more of the fascinating "Interview of an Anglo-Saxon Ploughman," 1000 A.D., featured in the narrative. Even after the Viking invasion, Kibworth's field names were primarily Anglo-Saxon. A neighboring place is called "Crackley," meaning Raven's Wood, (crack = raven) (ley = wood). Aelfric was the Thane of Kibworth, and St. Neot's Ware is unearthed in a woman's lovely kitchen garden. The series most succeeds in specifics, and it's beautifully filmed; the sequence about the ancient tree-meeting place is another evocative piece. Although Wood frequently imposes current emotions and values upon the past, overall the series is worth a look, especially the early portions. It's impressive what extensive research materials are secreted away in various archives, from Oxford, to the National Library. Wood assists Kipworth's contemporary citizens in navigating this wealth of material, so that Kipworth's history becomes part of their own journey.I also highly recommend the archaeological, in-depth format of  Time Team: Unearthing the Roman Invasion . Enjoy!

I did not expected to have perfect image in a common DVD, the quality of pictures is wonderful, it is like a blu-ray disc! It has almost 6 hours of wonderful landscapes and nice narrative in two DVDs. Michael Wood presents the story himself. I have wached it several times and never got bored. I bought Wood's paperback book too, it has the same content and some black and white pictures too.The Story of England is told through modern scenes mixed with old facts in the place where they happened. It's a very interesting point of view, indeed! Ordinary people, kinds, queens, literature, wars, musics, religion, art, historical events and cities, everything is there.I was so fascinated with the Story of England that I decided to buy more DVDs about the subject, then, I ordered Simon Schama's BBC series which I love too.I recommend Wood's Story of England as well as Shama's A History of Britain to anyone interested in History.

Fantastic video. We see the history of England through the lens of one little town. I loved the breadth of this series- and I loved the public involvement. This series makes history more personal, and more relevant. Fantastic beginning- as the people of Kibworth and the associated towns begin to do their own digs- discovering bits of their own history and heritage in the process. I don't normally binge watch history programs- but this one I did. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. If you've no interest in history whatsoever, this might not tickle your fancy, but if you've any love for the subject, I can't imagine you wouldn't enjoy this. I've recommended it to all my friends and family, and they've all liked it.

No problems

Michael Wood est un journaliste anglais qui allie à la fois une connaissance très fouillée mais synthétique de 'l'histoire indienne de plusieurs millénaires en 2 DVD assez longs où se mélangent des visites de sites et des interviews de personnes clés , le tout mené avec un enthousiasme et une fluidité très captivants . Il amène un éclairage très différent de ce qu'on peut lire habituellement du moins dans les ouvrages destinés aux touristes...Il y a une passion et un intérêt contagieux ... qui donne une vision plus complète des influences complexes à l'oeuvre dans ce pays . Passionnant.. ( mais hélas non sous titré en français...)

Micheal Wood's the story of England is another typically well done British documentary as thoughtful as provoking and on a subject who's importance can't be emphasized enough for anyone living in the western world. What Micheal and company does in tracing the history of one Midlands England town from its tribal roots to its modern citizens is remind all for us who descended from those European and particularly British Isle towns and cities, whether we wound up in Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand or other points that the over criticized and under rated British Empire created; of our rich rich history all available. Britain as one of the worlds most literate, some would even argue, most creative nations offers up not just anecdotal but continuous written records of the earliest generations of the town of Kibworth Harcourt to the present allowing an unprecedented look at the lives and development of this English town, its people and diaspora. Whether you live in Vancouver, Melbourne, or Boston, this documentary takes you home.

An absolutely wonderful series of case studies across time where the view from the village intersects with developments in national history, and using an expression also used by William Blake, it particularises - it does not generalise. The involvement of the community and schools in this enterprise is a paradigm which should be adopted everywhere, not just in England. A gripping series of documentary films. Excellent.

This is a wonderful "adventure", which right at the outset, spells out the one small flaw in most histories - it follows the history of a land through the monarchs, the leaders, the great people, and the great events. Yet it is the common people, the day to day life, and the small things that happen - the subtle changes and the "quiet way of things" that make up so very much of what a people is, and why this England is "This England". To achieve this goal, the producers focus on one single town, and follow it, though writing, linguistics, area histories, DNA and even enlisting the townspeople in a dig - in some cases, their very back gardens, to discover a wonderful, complex and fascinating history upon which all those great things" are built. Highly recommended, indeed for all ages (if you'll pardon the pun...).