The Mark Steel Lectures

Season 2 Episode 4: Thomas Paine

Surely Britain’s greatest unknown international revolutionary, best-selling author and hobbyist bridge builder, Norfolk born corset-maker’s son Thomas Paine wrote the Rights of Man and helped inspire the American War of Independence. Thereafter he became the Secretary for Foreign Affairs in a government that hated his country of birth. He then went to France and escaped the guillotine by accident, after having failed to sell a bridge he built over a field in London. One of Mark Steel’s great unsung radical heroes, this comedy lecture series shines a light on a little known (in Britain) hero on two continents.

Genre:

Documentary, Comedy

Seasons:

3

Episodes:

18

Cast:

Gerard Logan, Mark Steel

Quality:

HD

Duration:

30 min

First Air:

2003

Rating:

7.5