In the third episode of Britain’s Hidden Histories, to be shown on BBC1 at 6.30pm, Clare Balding gets access to the photographic archive of Country Life magazine in order to investigate how the 150-year-old collection has helped to restore the most unlikely of country house interiors. During the filming, Clare spoke to Country Life’s architectural editor John Goodall regarding the history of the magazine and its usefulness as a historical resource. She also spoke to library manager Justin Hobson about the extensive Country Life archive.

 Clare Balding came in to Country Life HQ earlier in the year to talk to Architectural Editor John Goodall about the wealth of information on British country houses available in our archive 

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Elsewhere Paul Martin is in Gloucestershire, at Berkeley Castle, owned and lived in by the same family for almost 900 years. This Norman fortress holds an extraordinary archive collection and, in 2004, seven lost arias by Vivaldi were discovered amongst the old documents. On this show, one of the arias will be performed on television for the very first time.

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