James May's 20th Century

Season 1

James May covers various inventions and discoveries over the past century and discusses their implications on our daily lives.

Where to Watch Season 1

Amazon VideoBuy $11.94

6 Episodes

Honey, I Shrunk The World
E1
Honey, I Shrunk The WorldMay concludes that the major breakthroughs in transportation over the last 100 years shrunk the world not by allowing us to see more of it, but--thanks to television, computers, and fiber optic cable--by increasingly bringing it to us.
Blast Off
E2
Blast OffMay reruns the 20th century's space races. He begins with the V2 rockets that the Nazis launched on London and moves on to the rocket rivalry between Russia and America. All the while, he asks, was it all really worth it?
Body Fantastic
E3
Body FantasticMay examines how we can correct and compensate for medical problems, such as missing limbs or defective hearts. In the process, he shows that we can now defy the hand we were dealt at birth and, by unraveling our DNA, discover who we really are.
Take Cover
E4
Take CoverIn Take Cover, James looks at how warfare drives ingenuity and gets to fly in the RAF’s latest supersonic jet. It’s an experience that he describes as "the most amazing thing I have ever done". The film begins by looking at the early days of air war at the start of the 20th Century. James flies in a biplane to get to grips with how difficult it was for the early aviators to hit any targets. Using flour bombs, he tries to hit a target on the ground. It’s a lot more difficult than he imagined. He also meets a group of ex-Paras to try some "make up for men", camouflage paint. When he fails to spot the Paras hidden in the woods he turns to modern technology for help. James moves on to look at "the biggest art show of the century", one of the most curious innovations to come from the military world. It’s called dazzle camouflage, and it involved painting warships in a confusing series of lines and stripes. Thousands of ships were painted like this to confuse German U boats during the First World War. Finally James meets up with Squadron Leader Paul Godfrey. He’s been invited to fly in the Typhoon, the RAF’s latest jet fighter. He has a private pilot’s licence - but only at 4,000ft at 120 knots. The Typhoon is a plane that can go from a standing start to six miles high in 150 seconds. After landing James admits he was slightly emotional: "Well, I admit I was a bit nervous when we set off but, absolutely unquestionably and not anything to do with bigging it up for television, that was the best thing I have ever experienced. It is, it is breathtaking, it really is, I can’t really describe what it’s like. It’s life-changing, frankly."
Inventing The Teenager
E5
Inventing The TeenagerWhat spawned teenagers? Was it the nylon-inspired fashion revolution, crystal radio, vinyl records, the first Japanese motorcycle, or the electric guitar? May sets out to discover how, during the 20th century, the teenager emerged as a distinct entity.
Big City, Bright Lights
E6
Big City, Bright LightsHow did we construct skyscrapers that appear to defy gravity? Why is an electrician from Newcastle the unsung hero behind our 24-hour lifestyle? And what motivates May to drop a Mini Cooper on a plate-glass window?