The World at War - Tapa dura

"The World at War" is the definitive television work on the Second World War. It set out to tell the story of the war through the testimony of key participants - from civilians to ordinary soldiers, from statesmen to generals. First broadcast in 1973, the result was a unique and irreplaceable record since many of the eyewitnesses captured on film did not have long to live. The programme's producers committed hundreds of interview-hours to tape in its creation, but only a fraction of that recorded material made it to the final cut. For more than 30 years the interviews have never been allowed to be published - until now.The well-known names interviewed for the series include Albert Speer, Karl Wolff (Himmler's adjutant), Traudl Junge (Hitler's secretary), James Stewart (USAAF bomber pilot and Hollywood star), Anthony Eden, John Colville (Parliamentary Private Secretary to Winston Churchill), Averell Harriman (US Ambassador to Russia) and Arthur 'Bomber' Harris (Head of RAF Bomber Command). Highly respected historian and bestselling author Richard Holmes has skilfully woven this valuable original material into a compelling narrative, creating a truly phenomenal oral history of the Second World War.

Richard Holmes is one of Britain's most distinguished historians and television presenters. He is the author of a number of bestselling books, which include In the Footsteps of Churchill, Redcoat and Tommy, and has written and presented a number of popular series for the BBC, such as Battlefields, War Walks and The Western Front. He was appointed Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University in 1995 and lives in Hampshire with his wife and two daughters. The World at War was first broadcast 31 by Thames Television on October 1973, when memories of the Second World War were still clear in people's mind and the war's veterans were numerous. The unique television series assembled these recollections over 26 one-hour programmes. Produced by Sir Jeremy Isaacs, narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier and unforgettably scored by Carl Davis, it was a seminal moment in the history of television documentaries, setting the standard by which all factual programming was thereafter judged.