Part 53: Q&A - November 6

And that's been Book of the Week. Since we have a little bit of time once again, we'll be fielding a few questions from our audience. Our first caller is from Chuck A. from Bath. Go ahead Charles.


Hi, I wanted to know which of your series' are docudramas and which are documentaries, I've missed some of the announcement broadcasts.

Currently, we're running the docudramas, "Into the Breach" based on the Siege of Jerusalem but dramatizing the actions of the Knights of Saint John, Odyssey, a more realistic following of the Odyssey of Greek myth and Honour Before Reason, a docudrama following the exploits of Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan.

Our series for history lovers that accurately depict our history are Gangs of London depicting mid 1900 crime lords in Britain, Empire Total War, depicting the second 80 years war following the Dutch and Animals of the Arctic featuring David Attenborough.

Our next question comes in from Sir William Cypher all the way from Sydney Australia. William?

After listening to the Empire total war documentary, I wanted to know how the Dutch have influenced the BBC.

As much as the Dutch were dominant militarily, economically and politically, even in England, they never had much cultural influence. A major part of their success in keeping their many allies was that the members of their alliance and their conquered lands were always given as much autonomy at the lowest levels as possible, meaning that which was inherently British was never touched. The biggest mark was left by the house of lords intense mercantile nature, which has influenced where our money comes from, that being primary investments and holdings as owned by the British government as opposed to tax money.

Our next call is from Mr. L. Bourne from Edinburgh. Mr. Bourne, go ahead.

I've been wondering why you use this format for your phone in question and answer segment. While I like BBC radio 4 content, I prefer Points of View for this sort of segment.

Points of View is from BBC radio 1, which has a different sort of culture compared to radio 4. While they prefer self congratulatory questions, focusing on witty and interesting answers from comedians, we at BBC radio 4 prefer a more professional, informative format.

Our next caller is Gil Suza calling from Harrow.

This is a question from the Empire Total War Series. I wanted to know how long it would take the Dutch regiments in France to get back up to full strength after they had been reduced in the battle of Paris.

According to Professor David Stephenson, a replacement soldier for a depleted regiment required approximately 6 months to train, however as they are not raised in a full regiment in a set rally point, organizing and mobilizing the recruits from their various training grounds would often take another 6 months, meaning a soldier could be replaced at considerable cost in approximately a year.

There is some confusion about replenishing a regiment in the field. Some believe doctrine allowed only a General or greater to request troops to bandage damaged regiments, but this isn't true. A colonel or even Lieutenant under extreme circumstances could requisition replacements for a depleted regiment. However, only a General or higher could commission the formation of new regiments without the administration of a provincial governor or the minister of defense.

And that's it for our phone in period, if you want to call in with your questions, we'll be taking some periodically every day. And now, we have Ancient Landmarks of Shanghai.