Alternative Homes

Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.

Homes were exposed to huge forces of change in the 19th and 20th century, responding to industrialisation, pollution, and the imperial mission. Prof Vickery explores how they remained idealised havens in a heartless, dirty world.

'Home means a place to go to when you are in trouble. A place sadly altered by war. A place to glorify when away and rely on always...' So reported one woman to the Mass Observation survey. Prof Vickery explores the enduring pull of a home of one's own.

Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.

Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.