Long before football and rock'n'roll, the A-listers of the day were explorers. They risked their lives to sail over the horizon, seek new lands, and bring home unimaginable treasures to dark, damp Europe.    

 In a major series debut for Channel 5, James May charts the journeys of Christopher Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Captain James Cook, through hands-on experiments, examining…technological wonders, and plenty of messing about in boats - and investigates how these extraordinary explorers changed the world forever. 

 But James soon learns that ‘great’ explorers might be pushing it, and that some of these national heroes were absolute chancers whose reputations might need a closer look.