Invention of Childhood, 2nd of 6 [audio 60min]

In six hour-long episodes, Michael Morpurgo, former Children's Laureate of Great Britain, examines the stories of the lives of British children over the last thousand years, epoque by epoque. Episode 2: 16th and 17th centuries. Michael Morpurgo looks at how children fared in the wake of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. What impact did it have on a child's self-esteem to grow up believing that he was "a wicked man, as he that is ignorant and not exercised in godliness"? Michael Morpurgo finds out about the growing educational opportunities for boys and the diminishing chances for girls in the 17th century, and about the impact of the Poor Law on the most disadvantaged children of all. Read by Timothy West, Sara Kestelman, Anna Maxwell Martin and Adam Godley.