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Greg Jenner watches an archive clip of Ernest Marples, transport minister in the 1960s, discussing the emerging challenges of car congestion and pollution in Britain’s cities. Greg speaks to the writer Lynsey Hanley and the historian Joe Moran about the rise of car culture in Britain. What is the particular appeal of the private car, how does the rise in car ownership relate to the rise of the environmental movement, and what is their vision for how we’ll get from A to B in the future?

Marking the centenary of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's vast archive over the past 100 years. Public historian Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and uses it as a starting point in a journey towards the present day. The archive captures a century of British life in a unique way - a history of ordinary people’s lives, as well as news of the great events. Greg uncovers connections through people, places and ideas that link the archive fragment to Britain in 2022, pulling in help from experts and those who remember the time – and sometimes the speakers themselves, decades later - along the way. What he discovers are stories, big and small, that reveal how the people we were have shaped the people we have become.

Producer: Eliane Glaser