James May charts the journeys of explorers through experiments and messing about in boats. Chapter 1: Christopher Columbus The host profiles famous explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus. He may be celebrated as a national hero for 'discovering' the USA - but he never set foot there. James starts by travelling to south-west Spain, from where these world-changing voyages began. May takes the helm of his own sailboat to test the cutting-edge sail technology that allowed ships to travel further than ever - and the rudimentary navigation techniques that Columbus had to rely on. Chapter 2: Sir Walter Raleigh James follows Walter Raleigh's rise from rural Devon to London high-society. He meets top barrister Benet Brandreth KC at The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple to learn the techniques of persuasion that allowed Raleigh to talk his way to the top. James also explores the darker and more complex corners of Raleigh's legacy. Chapter 3: Captain Cook Captain James Cook was the last explorer in the age of sail - and one of the busiest, charting one third of the globe. His voyages brought huge advancements in navigation, biology, and geography, and in Britain he is generally thought of as a hero - but in other parts of the world, that's not the story. James May examines how this studious and serious son of a farmer broke through the class ceiling to become the greatest naval captain of his age.
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Joanna begins a 2,000-mile journey across Japan in Hokkaido, where she meets one of the most important animals in Japanese culture, the red-crowned crane. She arrives in Sapporo during the middle of the annual Snow Festival and meets members of the local indigenous community, before travelling into the Fukushima exclusion zone and taking a bullet train from Nagano to Tokyo.
Part 1 • Joanna Lumley's Japan • 2016 • Travel
In this first episode, Simon travels to Burma to find out the roots of this crisis - as well as heading to Bangladesh to witness the drama that is still unfolding. He begins his journey in the biggest city in the country, Yangon, and drives north into Burma's Buddhist heartlands and the stunning ancient capital of Bagan - a sight that rivals the great wonders of the world. He meets the monks who supported the people through the darkest days of dictatorship. And he is granted an audience with some of the most contentious figures in the country - ultranationalist monks preaching hate against the country's Muslim Rohingya. Stopped from visiting the scene of the military crackdown against the Rohingya, Simon travels to Bangladesh to meet the refugees traumatised by the violence
S1E1 • Burma with Simon Reeve • 2018 • Travel
In Transylvania, Charlie's awed by a restored medieval clock tower, samples artisan cheese and donkey milk, and visits a theme park in a salt mine.
S2E1 • Flavours of Romania • 2023 • Travel
Lev and Ash travel to the Golden temple in Amritsar, eat a hearty breakfast, try mud wrestling and Sikh martial arts. In Lahore, they meet author Salman Rashid, indulge in a Sufi Qawwali delicacy before heading off on Pakistan's oldest passenger train.
S1E3 • Expedition Borderlands • 2022 • Travel
On the last leg of his journey across the South American country, Michael explores the Brazilian south, where he is surprised by the rich diversity of European and Asian influences. Along the way he meets Dom Joao de Orleans e Braganca, second in line of succession to Brazil's defunct throne, goes flying with a man who has made a fortune out of rubbish and meets rap star Criolo, who believes social equality is a distant dream for most of his countrymen. Travelling farther south to Blumenau, the former Python's views on what makes a typical Brazilian are challenged when he finds German speakers and Bavarian dancers, before he catches piranha for sushi and helps cowboys treat a calf attacked by a jaguar
S1E4 • Brazil with Michael Palin • 2012 • Travel
Charlie meets an architect trying to save the decaying spa at the Baile Herculane resort in Banat, then visits Timi?oara, Romania's "Little Vienna."
S2E6 • Flavours of Romania • 2023 • Travel