THE rich history of Southampton has many threads that have been woven together over the decades to produce a modern 21st century city.

Local stories and tales have been told and retold down the generations - but now modern technology has been used to bring this heritage to life in a brand new DVD, Southampton Revealed.

It is the work of Southampton historian Jake Simpkin, who spent months putting together the 40-minute presentation that takes a broad look at the city and its long journey from the age of the Romans to the present day and its role as an international maritime gateway and hub of global trade.

Along the way, the DVD highlights many varied aspects of Southampton, ranging from the sailing of the Mayflower, to the loss of Titanic, the rise in importance of the docks, pioneering aviation, the impact of the Second World War and the wide-ranging redevelopment of communities in the 1950s and 1960s.

"This is something I have been wanting to do for ages and last year I finally got round to planning and undertaking the project,'' said Jake, one of Southampton's official Blue Badge guides.

"I met up with Mike Power, a member of Southampton Video Camera Club, who is known for his successful films and we found we worked well together.

"The DVD was an awful lot of work and I suppose we were working on it from August right through to December of last year.

"We were filming and then refilming for many weeks, but I am really pleased with the end product, which I think will be fascinating to anyone interested in Southampton's history.'' Throughout the making of the DVD, Jake worked extremely closely with Southampton's museums, including God's House Tower and Solent Sky.

"I could not have received better co-operation from all the museums,'' said Jake, who lives in Shirley.

"The DVD traces from the time of the Roman settlement across the centuries and looks at where Southampton will be going in the future.

"It is aimed at people who perhaps do not read but rather watch a film to discover more information about their home city.

"I hope that once people have seen the DVD they will say Wow! I would like to to find out more about Southampton's history'.''