Inventions That Changed the World

Clarkson traces the development of firearms and discovers that gun technology, despite much negative press, has created some surprisingly constructive spin-offs.

In Victorian times, computing involved crunching numbers using paper and pencil. A century later, we rely on computers for everything from communication to flying, driving to washing our dishes. Jeremy Clarkson investigates the impact of this influential invention, and asks if intelligent machines could pose a threat to our future.

In 1929 British pilot Frank Whittle proposed a new method of propulsion for a plane that could cover long distances at great speed. He struggled to secure financial backing - yet, as Jeremy Clarkson reveals, the jet engine has had a profound impact on the way we travel.

The telephone was invented by mistake, I by a man trying to make a humming telegraph. Elisha Gray , who made the initial breakthrough, would end up with nothing, while Alexander Graham Bell - the man who "borrowed" his idea and is widely credited with having invented it - would end up with what is arguably the most valuable patent in history. Jeremy tells an epic tale of money, greed, opportunism and blind chance.

Europe boasts more TV sets than children, yet its inventors - John Logie Baird and Philo T. Farnsworth - would die without acclaim. The BBC has long been synonymous with the dawning of TV, but the first public broadcaster was actually the Nazi party, Hitler having recognised its propaganda potential. Jeremy Clarkson gives his unique take on how television has shaped our world.