"On February 25, 1963, Columbia Records released The Barbra Streisand Album. The first song was "Cry Me a River," and with that a star was born. Barbra Joan Streisand had a zany personality backed by a talent that Stephen Sondheim once described as "one of the two or three best voices in the world of singing songs," adding "It's not just her voice but her intensity, her passion and control." Harold Arlen, another of her favorite composers, commented,...

Responsible for some of the greatest films of the 20th century - The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and The Quiet Man among others - John Ford was best known for motion pictures that defined the American West and the face of wartime military. A Hollywood celebrity, Ford lived his life against the background that Twentieth Century-Fox fashioned for him. As he did, the facts of his life merged with - and became inseparable from - his multifaceted...

Six celebrated hosts to tell the stories behind the stories of Shakespeare's greatest plays, revealing not just the elements in the play, but the history of the play itself. What sparked the creation of each of these works? Where did Shakespeare get his plots, and what cultural, political and religious factors influenced his writing? Why has this body of work endured so thoroughly? What, in the end, makes Shakespeare so great?

Through footage from the British Library's exhibition of a collection of artifacts and interviews with the author, tells the story behind the creation of the magical world of Harry Potter books.