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The Battles That Won Our Freedoms

The stories of the most dramatic, high-stakes battles in our history that helped to win liberties we take for granted.

Radio 4,12 episodes

Episodes

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Week Two Omnibus - From the Abolition of Atlantic Slavery to the Freedom of Information Act
A new series exploring the long history of struggles for liberty in Britain.
18 Jan 2019,57 mins
10. Freedom of Information
How the British public won the right to know more of the truth about the conduct of power.
18 Jan 2019,14 mins
9 Gay Rights
The decriminalisation of homosexuality, and the struggle for equal rights that followed.
17 Jan 2019,14 mins
8. The Married Women's Property Act
The struggle to win married women's right to own property and be counted as full citizens.
16 Jan 2019,14 mins
7 Catholic Emancipation
The long struggle to free pre-Victorian Catholics from laws barring them from public life.
15 Jan 2019,14 mins
6. The Abolition of Atlantic Chattel Slavery
The Jamaican slave rebellion that contributed to Britain's abolition of slavery.
14 Jan 2019,14 mins
Week One Omnibus - From Magna Carta to Victorian Trade Unions
A new series exploring the long history of struggles for liberty in Britain.
11 Jan 2019,57 mins
5 Freedom of Association
The struggle of Victorian working men to form trade unions with real negotiating power.
11 Jan 2019,14 mins
4 Freedom of the Press
How a libertine called John Wilkes fought for the right to criticize the powerful, and won
10 Jan 2019,14 mins
3 Freedom of Religion
How post-Civil War England produced a radical idea - Toleration - and its role today.
09 Jan 2019,14 mins
2 Freedom from Unlawful Detention
The story of the struggle for 'habeas corpus' in an England on the verge of Civil War.
08 Jan 2019,14 mins
1 Freedom from Absolute Monarchy
Series exploring the long history of struggles for liberty in Britain.
07 Jan 2019,14 mins