in The Shadow of Vesuvius

Ash spewed into the sky. All eyes were on Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder sailed towards the phenomenon. A teenage Pliny the Younger waited. His uncle did not come back. In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian. The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world's first full-length encyclopaedia.

"A wonderfully rich, witty, insightful, and wide-ranging portrait of the two Plinys and their world."—Sarah Bakewell, author of How to Live

The Secret Mediterranean Following on from Sir Trevor McDonald's popular Secret Caribbean travelogue, this epic new series see the award-winning journalist visit some of the 21 countries spanning the three continents making up the Mediterranean Today, amid the stunning landscapes, more cultures live side by side here than anywhere else on earth. Sir Trevor McDonald explores the various countries that make up the Med, their individual cultures and traditions and looks beyond the beaches and old towns of holiday brochures to discover the truly secret Mediterranean.

Pompeii: one of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history. We know how its victims died, but this film sets out to answer another question - how did they live? Gleaning evidence from an extraordinary find, Cambridge professor and Pompeii expert Mary Beard provides new insight into the lives of the people who lived in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius before its cataclysmic eruption. In a dark cellar in Oplontis, just three miles from the centre of Pompeii, 54 skeletons who didn't succumb to the torrent of volcanic ash are about to be put under the microscope.