British History in 60 Minutes or Less

[FLDebbie]

I am briefly touching on many civilizations through time with my 9 yo son. Next up is British history. We like to watch videos during lunch; they help him to make what we read seem more real. I'd like a short video (or several) covering the major events and people of Britian through time. I'm having trouble fining anything that is general enough that is also not 8 hours long. We have Netflix streaming and Hulu plus, but I didn't see anything there. We love the Horrible Histories we can watch through You Tube, but I'm thinking that's not quite enough. Do any of you have suggestions?

[Laura Corin]

That's a pretty tough call. Over two thousand years of history....

 

My sons enjoyed the Simon Schama History of Britain films: he's British but teaches in the US, so he has a good insider/outsider view.

 

I can recommend a book: Britannia by Geraldine McCaughrean. She goes through the main 'stories' of British history (Alfred Burning the Cakes, etc.) in chronological order, with a sidebar for each that brings the story closer to history.

 

ETA: I seem to remember some pretty harsh language in one of the early programmes - reading out Viking (?) graffiti.

 

Laura

[EmmaNZ]

I was going to suggest the same as Laura. Here's a synopsis. But he has done lots, lots more. My 8 year old enjoys them.

[lailasmum]

Another series that might be good is The story of England with Michael wood. Basically its a documentary in the Village of Kibworth in Leicestershire. They follow the village through it's development but it only starts at Roman era, lots of archaeology and maps. There are 6 1 hr episodes. Here is a bit of the first episode online. He also did a series called The great British story: A people's history which was interesting too. but it's 8 1hr episodes. I can't think that there would be any video out there that covers British history in an hour.

[FLDebbie]

Thanks for the input. All countries have history and we've managed to find overviews of other civilizations that lasted thousands of years (Egypt, China, Greece), but I think because so much wasn't recorded, we don't have the detail that we have with British history. I'm going to look through these suggestions and pull something together that has more detail than what I know, but not be too much.

[LaughingCat]

Would you be willing to share what you found for other countries?

[FLDebbie]

Here's what I've written down. We haven't watched all these and there are a few others not here. If it doesn't have a link, then it's a Netflix video. We've also watched some Deadlliest Warriors with people or civilizations we've studied (e.g., Vikings vs. Samurai), although you might find them too violent (they use blood-like goo inside dummies to make it look gorier).

Netflix Documentaries.doc

Netflix Documentaries.doc

[Lilaclady]

Thanks hat will come in handy for our medieval study next fall

[Alte Veste Academy]

I can recommend a book: Britannia by Geraldine McCaughrean. She goes through the main 'stories' of British history (Alfred Burning the Cakes, etc.) in chronological order, with a sidebar for each that brings the story closer to history.

 

Whoa, Nelly! That book is awesome! I would just about trade my right arm for a series of books like that. In my dreams, there would be one volume for every major country. Thanks so much for posting!