1956: The World in Revolt

Mamie, a San Francisco prostitute who is run out of town just as the second world war has begun to intensify, settles down in Hawaii, hoping to start a new life. Though her prospects look good when she falls in love with a science-fiction writer who treats her with the respect she deserves, the dawning war and the fallacies of her previous lifestyle complicate their budding romance.

At first glance, Mizoguchi's Empress Yang Kwei Fei is Asian cinema’s answer to Lola Montes – the Max Ophuls extravaganza made that same year. An overpoweringly lush colour fantasia (half history, half Cinderella) about a young woman who rises from murky origins to snare the heart of a reigning monarch. A historical fairytale without, of course, a “happy ever after” ending. In both films, the rapid rise of our heroine throws society into chaos and open revolt. Poor Lola ends her days in a circus freak-show; a hapless Yang Kwei Fei pays for her triumph with her life.

In virtually all corners of the Western world, 1968 witnessed a highly unusual sequence of popular rebellions. In Italy, France, Spain, Vietnam, the United States, West Germany, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, and elsewhere, millions of

Dr Yasmin Khan explores an extraordinary collection of ship's passenger lists to trace the changing story of migration from the Indian subcontinent to Britain over three key decades.

The present release presents one of the twentieth century’s most virtuosic performers in a programme of works by Chopin. The noted Hungarian-born French pianist, Georges Cziffra, was a son of Hungarian Romas. He became noted at the age of 5, improvising on popular tunes in bars and circuses. His teachers at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest included Ern? Dohnányi. His education was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the Hungarian army. After the war he continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy with Ferenczi, but was once more distracted from music when he was arrested in 1950 for his rebellious political views, and was held under forced labor. He was released from jail in 1953, but was again endangered by the abortive Hungarian revolt in 1956. He went on to escape with his wife and son to Vienna, where his career skyrocketed. He became best known for his interpretations of works of the Romantic repertoire, most notably those of Liszt, Chopin, and Schumann.