Videos

A Touch of History

Our history is all around us.

For many of us, however, it can be tricky to really connect to history. It can feel vast and overwhelming - a muddle of timelines, monarchs and events we didn’t witness and struggle to imagine.

In A Touch of History, Sarah and the team travel to places and investigate objects that provide us with tangible links to the past.

From castles and hillforts to islands and tunnels, and from chess pieces and standing stones to aircraft, ships and monuments, we investigate the history around us through the places and objects it left behind - objects which connect us to the past.

Join us for a Touch of History!

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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to fly in a Spitfire? Find out as lifelong Spitfire-lover and historian Dr Sarah-Louise Miller takes to the air in PT462, a WWII Spitfire.

In this series of short clips, Sarah gives ten vital pieces of advice for flying in warbirds.

Sarah visits Bletchley Park – the home of the wartime codebreakers – to investigate the work of the WAAF in signals intelligence there.

In this episode, Sarah visits Bentley Priory - the wartime HQ of RAF Fighter Command - to find out more about the Dowding System, the world's first integrated fighter defence system and the immensely important role it played in the Battle of Britain.

Sarah visits the International Bomber Command Centre, and the Derwent Valley Dams in Derbyshire, to learn more about Bomber Command's operations and the work of the WAAF behind them.

In episode five, Sarah visits Danesfield House Hotel – known as RAF Medmenham during the Second World War. There, she investigates the work of the WAAF in photographic intelligence behind the RAF’s operations.

Speaking to BBC History Extra, Sarah suggests five heritage sites and museums to visit to uncover the story of the unflappable women of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose work during the Second World War ensured success for many vital missions