Our view of the past is dominated by the lives of kings and emperors, but could the daily lives of ordinary people provide a new and astonishing view of history? The fourth series of ‘A Day In…’ uses diaries, letters, and other historical documents to tell the fascinating stories of everyday people on a specific day in their lives.
‘A Day in Nuremberg 1593’ uses the diary transcripts of the city executioner Frantz Schmidt, who documented both his 45-year career enforcing death sentences and his dreams of a better life for his children. The second journey through time takes us to Italy in ‘A Day in Bologna 1752’, and the inspiring story of the physicist Laura Bassi, the first woman to have a doctorate in science, who asserted herself in a male-dominated world to persuade the dean to install the world’s first lightning conductor.
