John Wilkes is a comparatively little-known figure today, but in the mid- to late-eighteenth century he was at the epicentre of events which shook the British Establishment and helped prepare the ground for modern civil liberties. Wilkes was part of a successful campaign to compel governments to publish the full text of Parliamentary debates. He took the side of the American colonists in their disputes with the Crown. He fought for freedom of the press. And his actions led to general warrants (which named the crime rather than the alleged perpetrator and so allowed dozens to be caught in police dragnets) being declared illegal. Wilkes was the inheritor of a tradition which is grounded in Magna Carta but can be traced centuries earlier to the Anglo-Saxons. Watch Magna Carta Unlocked to see how that legacy helped shape the modern world.