Frank James explores the history of the CHRISTMAS LECT’‘The Chemical History of a Candle’ which produced perhaps the most popular science book ever published. As the Royal Institution’s flagship lecture series it was an obvious candidate for broadcasting by the BBC’s fledging television service in 1936. In the post-1945 period several lectures were televised, but it was not until the 1966/7 series that they started being broadcast annually. These two talks (see the other here: https://youtu.be/A_R66fJtyns) illustrated by clips, experiments and perhaps the odd explosion, consider the development, content and impact of these lectures. Frank James, Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution, has edited the complete extant correspondence of Michael Faraday and is currently working on the background to Humphry Davy’s career. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com/ Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorial-policy Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter