A superb new film vividly portrays the use and abuse of scripture by slavers to justify their evil acts

It was a fine year for the Bard, with David Tennant, Rory Kinnear and Jude Law impressing, but there was far more than just Shakespeare

For two decades Harry Stanley Fairclough turned the Wiltshire town into a leading centre of opera

The Egyptian astronomer's dubious methods dominated the science for over a millennium

This great Danish astronomer made a heliocentric theory credible

The changing of the guard in the world of chess was achieved not by smash-and-grab play, but by herculean displays of patience

Plato attempted to divorce wine-drinking and pleasure and to conscript wine to “worthy” purposes. Thank goodness no one listened to him

The greatest American movie of all time was made in 1946 and you'll never have heard of it