Churchill (2017)

For Joe Wright’s Winston Churchill wartime drama, the director initially suggested solo piano but also, composer Marianelli says, “great propulsion, great momentum forward,” all conveying “the sense of restlessness of the man.” Enter world-class soloist Vikingur Olafsson. The Icelandic pianist was “particularly versed in minimalism, with an expressiveness that wasn’t remotely romantic,” Marianelli says. He quickly expanded the scope of the score to be more fully orchestral.

2017 marks the centenary year of the establishment of Imperial War Museums. It was founded while the First World War was still raging - and over the past century, IWM has expanded hugely, with five sites including the Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast. It shares stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth.
This programme, presented by Falkland’s veteran and charity campaigner Simon Weston CBE, looks at ten key objects from the IWM's collection.

Paul Murton takes a tour of Scotland's lochs.

While every great jazz musician knows the value of spontaneity, few understand the true value of being in the moment quite like Johnny O’Neal. A rising star in the early 1980s, O’Neal left New York after a mugging in 1986. Performing and recording in Atlanta, St. Louis, Montreal and his native Detroit, he experienced another setback after he was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1998. Since returning to New York in 2010, however, both his life and his health have been on an upswing, cementing that long-promised star status at the age of 60. His new album, In the Moment, is his most vivid recording to date, fully capturing the elegant pianism and emotionally gripping voice that have made him such a beloved fixture on the NYC jazz scene ever since his unparalleled comeback.

At the outset of the Yalta Conference on February 4, 1945, the «Big Three» were all optimistic: victory was in no doubt, and the accord that they had achieved seemed likely to preserve the values they had fought for.