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THE LATEST PROGRAMME |
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The award-winning investigative series returns, in which Mike Thomson takes a document as a starting-point to shed new light on past events.
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Radio 4's award-winning investigative history series Document returns on Monday 8th September with five fresh stories. Scroll down the page for information on each programme.
1. 8 Sep 2003 - Mosquito Wars.
It is the first recorded case of biological warfare in the 20th century. After the Italians swapped allegiance during WWII the German's retaliated by using Italian propaganda films to determine how to destroy the new drainage system and so re- flood the Pontin Marshes south of Rome. This allowed a particularly deadly form of malaria carrying mosquito to flourish. The consequences were devastating, but not for the intended victims. Some say 'the plan' was not a plan at all. It was all a dreadful accident but when Mike Thomson travels through Italy he discovers documents that tell a very different story, one that could have far reaching implications for the German Government today.
(Producer Paul Kobrak)
View Mosquito Wars Image gallery
2. 15 Sep 2003 - Sisters of Kali.
Document looks at the historic links between India and Ireland in their respective battles for self governance. In particular we look at the influence of the Irish nationalist Margaret Nobel. Nobel was already an influential head teacher, journalist and friend of WB Yeats when she met the Hindu monk, Vivekananda, and followed him to Calcutta in 1898 to set up a school for girls. There she changed her name to Nivedita, which means 'The Dedicated One'. But what exactly was she dedicated to? Through documents in the Indian archives we can reveal how she started to meet with the leaders of the early Indian nationalist movement and inspired them with her passionate rhetoric, lecturing them on the necessity of violent resistance to British rule and finally, some claim, helping them with bomb making. Document looks at the two way exchange of ideas and inspiration, and also skills and funding that existed throughout the last century, and possibly, according to new claims about the current links between Irish Paramilitaries and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, right up to today.
(Producer Jane Ray)
View Sisters of Kali Image gallery
3. 22 Sep 2003 - The Organist's Tale.
A marvellous romp through 18th century sexual shenanigans and the rolling Monmouthshire countryside. Farmer son Neil Lewis unearthed some ruins of an old manor house under his Dad's driveway. It connected him to James Parry, a poor local choir boy who was born in 1712 with a remarkable gift for singing. Parry's gift was so praised that his 'agent' persuaded the boy to be castrated in order to preserve his voice for the nation. Parry escaped his fate at the last minute after a serving girl convinced him that he was not cut out to be a Eunuch. We would have known nothing more about Parry's subsequent life and vivid sexual exploits had he not managed to find a publisher for his memoirs and for the letters from his lover, the high born Mary Powell. Mike Thomson is, at first suspicious of the letters but as he follows Parry's trail the documentary clues fit together to form a fascinating portrait of a lively love rat, a high powered 'cover up' and links to the family of the late Reginald Bosenquet. "Contributors include Jules Stenson.
(Producer Tom Alban)
View The Organist's Tale gallery
4. 29 Sep 2003 - Lucilla and the Lost Lands.
A poignant story of an empty promise and a broken heart. Miss Lucilla Reeve took her own life in 1950. Her grave, our document, cannot be visited without a special permit because it now lies in the Standford Battle area. The letter came out of the blue in June 1942. It said that the inhabitants of 6 villages in the Breckland district of Norfolk had to be evacuated within 7 days. Similar letters were being received in Wales, Dorset and Wiltshire. The army and RAF desperately needed somewhere to train. The implication was that the villagers would be allowed back once the war was over. Miss Reeve, a farmer and land agent, refused to leave. Rumours that she was a nutter and a spy started, mysteriously, to abound. Eventually Miss Reeve gave up the fight. The lost villages of Breckland have never been returned and, as Mike Thomson discovers for Document, the MOD are still unwilling to say why.
(Producer Jane Ray)
View Lucilla and the Lost Lands gallery
5. 6 Oct 2003 - The Bunker.
Something dark and disturbing may be lurking under the streets of a genteel housing estate near Reading. A scientist talks about how he was encouraged to work in a secret bunker under the site forty years ago. Mike Thomson joins the experts to find out what has really been going on under suburbia.
(Producer Neil George)
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Audio Help
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DON'T MISS |
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Thursday 9.00-9.45am, rpt 9.30-10.00pm. Melvyn Bragg explores the history of ideas.
Listen again online or download the latest programme as an mp3 file.
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USEFUL LINKS |
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PRESENTER |
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| MIKE THOMSON |
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Mike Thomson worked in national radio, television and newspapers. He presented the Breakfast show on the former Radio 5, worked as a reporter for Sky News and World Service Television and wrote regularly for The Daily Mail, The Independent and The Observer. Mike joined Today in the mid 1990’s as a reporter and covered stories across the globe.
Mike has won a number of prestigious awards throughout his career. These include: The Texaco Award for ‘Industrial Journalist of the Year’ in the early 1990’s; A Gold Sony Award in 2002 for Best News Programme: Document; The Day They Made it Rain; (Which he wrote and presented for Radio 4) Shared a Sony Silver Award in the same year for his contribution to Today’s coverage of the race riots in northern England; and won another Sony Gold Award in 2003 for Best News Coverage following his reports for Today on the latest famine to hit Ethiopia.
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