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Battle of Britain Night

On Saturday 18 September, BBC Four will dedicate an evening to the Battle of Britain. Hosted by Gavin Esler (Newsnight) it will be a night of discussion, fresh analysis and rare archive – bringing together Second World War historians, Battle of Britain veterans, modern day combat pilots and senior figures from the RAF. Together they will investigate how Britain prepared for the iconic Battle, how the Spitfire and Hurricane measured up against the Messerschmitt, why the Battle of Britain achieved its legendary status, and how the modern RAF came to be defined by the events of 1940.

Westminster Abbey Memorial Service

On Sunday 19 September, BBC One will be covering the special Battle of Britain memorial service at Westminster Abbey. The Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication will be attended by HRH the Prince of Wales. Battle of Britain Sunday commemorates a dramatic turning point in the history of the Second World War and immediately after the service a flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and a march past of RAF servicemen and women will salute "The Few".

BBC online also takes audiences back to the time that has become known as Britain's "finest hour". The Battle of Britain season heralds a renewed focus for bbc.co.uk/history, which will feature a wealth of content with exclusive clips from the BBC television and radio archive, specially commissioned features, engaging insights from well-known historians and incredible photographs from the time.

Audiences can enjoy handpicked accounts of the conflict from A.J.P. Taylor, Professor Richard Holmes and Andrew Marr, plus insights from many more. They reveal, amongst other things: where Winston Churchill coined his famous phrase "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"; how Britain narrowly avoided a peace deal with the Nazis in 1940; how close Britain really came to being invaded; and why Churchill's secretary refused to throw herself on the floor for Adolf Hitler.

The Battle of Britain online collection is available now on the BBC History site.

This is in addition to BBC Archive's Battle of Britain collection which is also available by visiting bbc.co.uk/archive.