What happens
Narrator John W. Vander Cook introduces the history of England and then tells how the Magna Carta came about in the reign of King John. Arthur, the son of John's elder brother, is held prisoner and killed, and the French lands of the Crown are lost. John's heavy taxes anger the people, and a dispute over the Archbishop of Canterbury brings the Pope's interdict on England. Robert Fitzwalter leads the barons who resist the king, and the episode ends with the barons and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, forcing John to put his seal to the charter at Runnymede in 1215. The series is We Came This Way, broadcast on the NBC University of the Air, and the episode's original air date is October 6, 1944.
England, from ancient times through the reign of King John in the early 13th century, ending at Runnymede in 1215.
Characters: King John, Arthur, Robert Fitzwalter, Stephen Langton, Pembroke, Matilda, John W. Vander Cook
Listen for: The scene where John has the barons' children seized as hostages and the scene at Runnymede where John is forced to sign the charter.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.