Alistair Cooke entertained millions of listeners for over fifty years in his weekly Letter from America. It was the longest-running one-man series in radio history, and every show was a virtuoso performance.

In this selection of his very first letters, Cooke reports on a memorable range of events, including the threat to the United States during World War II, the funeral of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the shocking occasion when a bomber hit the Empire State Building and the presidential election of 1948.

As well as insights into cultural and political events of the time, the Letters are set in their historical context, with a specially commissioned script narrated by the BBCs Washington correspondent Matt Frei.

It is September 1940. France has fallen. America remains neutral in the war, separated by 3,000 miles of ocean.

Alistair Cooke entertained millions of listeners for over fifty years in his weekly Letter from America