William Wilberforce -- The Man and His Legacy [audio 45min]

Historian, journalist and novelist Melvyn Bragg marks the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Abolition Act. Bragg explores the life and legacy of William Wilberforce, visiting his memorial statue in Westminster Abbey and his birthplace in Hull, Yorkshire, and being shown the original copy of the Slave Trade Abolition Act in the House of Lords. Amongst other experts Bragg interviews are Wilberforce's biographer, the Rt Hon William Hague MP, former leader of the Conservative Party; historian Zoe Laidlaw from Royal Holloway, University of London; historian Anne Stott of Birkbeck College, London; Vanessa Salter, Keeper of Social History at the Wilberforce House Museum; Madge Dresser, from the University of the West of England; Alison Lewis, guide on the William Wilberforce tour; and Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who currently holds the Parliamentary seat once held by Wilberforce.