TV Guide Yesterday Friday

Michael Portillo makes his way from Chicago to Champaign, Illinois. On his travels he discovers the origins of the Sanitary and Ship Canal, joins the head chef at Palmer House Hotel to recreate the original chocolate brownie, and visits the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house that changed the face of American architecture

Michael Portillo stops at Mattoon, Illinois, where he gets a taste of the early life that shaped President Abraham Lincoln, though struggles to split one rail compared with Lincoln's estimated 700 a day. The political pundit then heads to Kentucky, where a bloody conflict proved decisive in victory for Lincoln's Union. Aboard a paddle steamer on the lower Mississippi, Michael hears about the life of former river boat captain Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, and in Memphis, Tennessee, uncovers the story of a devastating epidemic. In the home of the Blues, Michael joins some Elvis fans at Graceland

Fiona Bruce presents the show from Helmingham Hall, a Tudor manor house with two working drawbridges in Suffolk. The experts cast their eyes over a medieval sword which was found at the bottom of a golf course pond, an Indian jewel dating back to the battle of Seringapatam in 1799, and a collection of decorative boxes from the 17th and 18th centuries

Fiona Bruce presents a second visit to the Black Country Living Museum, where items brought in include a surrealist painting, a collection of jewels and one of the rarest guns featured on the show. Plus, Hilary Kay explores local motor racing history with a visit to the Sunbeam Motor Car Company