Robert Winston
Robert Winston

Following 25 children for the TV series 'Child of Our Time' has been extraordinary. The BBC's original plan was to commemorate the new millennium. What better way than to film a number of expectant mums from across the U.K.? Coming from widely different backgrounds, all were due to give birth on January 1, 2000.

Gladiator
Gladiator

Proximo: What do you want? Hmm? Girl? Boy?
Maximus: You sent for me?
Proximo: Yes, I did. You're good, Spaniard, but you're not that good. You could be magnificent.
Maximus: I'm required to kill, so I kill. That is enough.
Proximo: That's enough for the provinces, but not for Rome. The

young emperor has arranged a series of spectacles to commemorate his father, Marcus Aurelius. I find that amusing since it Marcus Aurelius, the wise, the all-knowing Marcus Aurelius, that closed us down. So, finally after five years of scratching a living in flea-infested villages, we're finally going back to where we belong. The coliseum. Oh, you should see the coliseum, Spaniard. Fifty-thousand

Romans. Watching every movement of your sword. Willing you to make that killer blow. The silence before you strike. And the noise afterwards. It rises. It rises up like - like the - like a storm. As if you were the Thundergod himself.
Maximus: You were a gladiator?
Proximo: Yes, I was.
Maximus: And you won your freedom?

Proximo: A long time ago, the emperor presented me with a rudis. It's just a... a wooden sword. A symbol of your freedom. He touched me on the shoulder and I was free.
Maximus: [laughing] You knew Marcus Aurelius?
Proximo: [Angry] I did not say I knew him! I said he touched me on the shoulder once!
Maximus:

You asked me what I want. I too want to stand in front of the emperor. As you did.
Proximo: Then listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn't the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you'll win your freedom.
Maximus: I will win the crowd. I will give them something they've never seen before.

Proximo: [laughs] So, Spaniard. We shall go to Rome together and have bloody adventures. And a great whore will suckle us until we are fat and happy and can suckle no more. And then, when enough men have died, perhaps you will have your freedom. Here, use this.
[tosses a breastplate to Maximus]

White House Down
White House Down

Donnie the Guide: Oil painting by Tom Freeman to commemorate the burning of the White House by the British in 1814.
Cale: Wait, the White House burned down?
Donnie the Guide: Yeah, yeah, in the War of 1812. Practically had to be rebuilt from the ground up. When I look at this painting, I get very emotional.

The Meaning of Life
The Meaning of Life

Humphrey: Now two boys have been found rubbing linseed oil into the school cormorant. Now some of you may feel that the cormorant does not play an important part in the life of the school, but I would remind you that it was presented to us by the corporation of the Town of Sudbury to commemorate Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who

so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British. So from now on, the cormorant is strictly OUT OF BOUNDS. Oh and Jenkins? Apparently your mother died this morning. Chaplain?

The Meaning of Life
The Meaning of Life

Headmaster: [Bible reading] Yay, and placed they the bits in little pots. Now two boys have been found rubbing linseed oil into the school cormorant. Now some of you may feel that the cormorant does not play an important part in the life of the school, but I would remind you that it was presented to us by the corporation of the Town of Sudbury to commemorate Empire Day, when we

try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British. So from now on, the cormorant is strictly OUT OF BOUNDS. Oh, and Jenkins? Apparently your mother died this morning. Chaplain.