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Catherine Clarke reads her new and original history of England - told through poetry.

Through five poems across a week, Clarke takes us onto battlefields, inside royal courts, below stairs of great houses and onto cricket pitches, with vivid voices, and surprising stories. In a portal to the past, she takes us inside the words and moments these poems capture, with new perspectives on how England has dreamed itself into existence - and who gets to tell its story.

What and whose is English history now? Clarke explores the future of England's 'green and pleasant land' through Zaffar Kunial's 2022 poem, 'The Groundsman', set on an English cricket pitch.

Writer and reader: Catherine is a Professor at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and Director of the Victoria County History of England.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett