About this programme

Diarmaid McCulloch, Professor of Church History at Oxford University, explores what it means to be English, highlighting the factors that have shaped the country's national identity from the Dark Ages through to the modern day. He investigates the nature of Englishness, and scrutinises England's reputation as a tolerant nation, challenging the commonly held view that the trait evolved as a result of the Enlightenment. He also highlights the work of Northumbrian monk Bede, who took the Jewish belief in a `chosen people' and applied it to his own countrymen.