In early twentieth-century America, his surname became synonymous with the affordable automobile, and the efficient production methods he pioneered would transform the character of modern industry. Find out the story behind the name on Henry Ford (PBS Sunday 20 February at 7.25PM)

Henry Ford’s innovations would make a lasting impact on American society and the wider world beyond. Yet he was a man of stark, even disturbing contradictions. His ground-breaking ‘people’s car’, the Model T, may have liberated millions, but Ford’s assembly lines made the workplace resemble a prison, while his anti- Semitic bigotry saw him look favourably upon Hitler’s Germany – and vice versa.

Drawing upon extensive archival records and recent scholarship, this biographical study of Henry Ford’s life and legacy offers a revealing, warts-and-all portrait of a complex, pivotal and deeply flawed figure.