The Lot

November 1943 - June 1944: Americans are shocked by terrible losses on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa, while in Italy Allied forces are stalled for months at Monte Cassino, and a risky landing at Anzio fails utterly. At home, as overcrowded "war towns" boom, economic transformation leads to confrontation and ugly racial violence.

Corsets, Cleavage and Country Houses looks at some of the most epic films ever made like Ghandi and Lawrence of Arabia - as well as films that reflect and play with our historical and literary traditions like the Merchant Ivory school, the films of David Lean and the big screen adaptations of Austen, Shakespeare and Dickens. Featured films include: Chariots of Fire, Henry V. Sense & Sensibility, Ghandi, The Railway Children, Great Expectations, Cock and Bull Story, Lawrence of Arabia, The Go-Between, Tom Jones, Mary Poppins, Topsy-Turvy and Shakespeare in Love.

March 1945 - December 1945: A few weeks after the death of President Roosevelt shocks the country, Germany surrenders. Meanwhile, American sailors, soldiers and Marines endure the worst battle of the Pacific - Okinawa. In August, American planes drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese, too, surrender. Millions return home - to try to learn how to live in a world without war.