John Shrapnel

"'The Divine Comedy' begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity. Allen Mandelbaum's astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece that genius whom...

Captain Vostrikov, a Russian naval officer has being given command of the Soviet Union's first nuclear submarine, K-19, at the height of the Cold War in 1961. The vessel's executive officer Captain Polenin asserts that the flagship is not yet ready for deployment. But, political pressure forces Vostrikov to sail his crew into the North Atlantic anyway, for a missile fire test that serves as a warning to the U.S. The test is a success, but a leak in...

Discusses the Dead Sea scrolls, a combination of the oldest written version of the Bible and the rules of the Essene community. Talks about the discovery of the scrolls and about their restoration, and examines evidence that Qumran was the site of the Essene community.

"Murder strikes in an Oxfordshire village at 17 Bloxham Drive. Exactly 24 hours later, while a policeman patrols outside, the resident at Number 15 is shot dead by the same gun. Investigators begin to unearth links between the neighbours of the modern estate. The murders also take Morse and Lewis into the hothouse atmosphere of the election for Master of Lonsdale College, over which the smooth and odious retiring master, Sir Clixby Bream, presides."--Container....

The cozy villages of Midsomer County reveal their most sinister secrets in these contemporary British television mysteries. The killings at Badger's Drift: The death of an elderly woman and the persistence of her lifelong friend draw Barnaby into a case that reveals the sordid side of this quaint village. Written in blood: Investigating the brutal murder of a Midsomer Worthy writer, Barnaby discovers that the victim had been living a fictitious life....

Using dramatic re-enactment and voicover narration, this program recounts the 1883 volcanic eruption on the Indonesian Island of Krakatoa, which killed 36,000 people.

Bearer of an almost unspeakable, immutable fate, Oedipus yet feels himself a man chosen--that is, favored--by the gods. Now an old man, blind and outcast, Oedipus wanders through Greece guided by his daughter Antigone until he comes to Colonus, where he knows he will die. Protected by the ruler of Thebes against the armies of Creon who have come in pursuit, he curses his son Polynices for indifference and ingratitude. Oedipus in this play is old and...

Joining the British Royal Navy at the outset of the Napoleonic Wars, the enterprising Horatio Hornblower rises quickly from raw recruit to seasoned sailor, charting a course from the West Indies to the coast of Africa in the name of the Crown. Along the way he encounters roiling sea battles, mutiny, plague, and love, but always proves himself equal to the task.

In his most cynical work, Shakespeare explores money--its virtues and its vices. Timon, a noble Athenian, is wildly extravagant with his inheritance. But as his money runs out, so do the friends who urged his lavishness. Timon loses his mind, then finds another fortune.