Time Travellers

Marvel at the lengths folk will go to in order to make their music heard, as Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough visits some of history's most memorable performance spaces, from a prisoner of war camp to a city under siege to Marcel Proust's bedroom.

Come and join us for a night at the theatre, as we struggle with stage directions, imbibe at the bar, and come away with more than just a souvenir programme.

Experience visions of Utopia, some imagined; some real. Our Time Travellers are looking for a slice of paradise.

This is how they did IT in the olden days. Online dating, virtual assistants, spam mail - it's really nothing new, as self-confessed Luddite Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough has been finding out.

Admire some of history's most ambitious design projects, from wireless electricity to giant dictaphones and an aphrodisiac bed.

1920s rap, space opera and classical composers accused of espionage: it's time for our Time Travellers to get tuneful in an episode devoted to music and inspired by Our Classical Century.

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough serves up a smorgasbord of delights from our foodie forebears - cockney oysters and rotten shark meat, anyone?

If you go down to the woods today... expect heavenly apparitions, blood sacrifice and a very eerie silence.

Relive those carefree days with Viking children's games and rebellious Roman students. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough asks: have youngsters really changed in 2000 years?

If you're looking for the next big trend, perhaps you should consult the history books. From opinionated hairdos to fitness fads, we really have seen it all before.