Whenever I think about British history, I tend to prefer the era of the Tudors or the Stuarts; times of major religious, moral, and political upheaval in an age long gone in the country’s past. I get more of a thrill thinking that I could be tracing Richard III’s footsteps whenever I visit the Tower of London, or that Henry VIII used to play badminton in Westminster Hall — as proven by a shuttlecock discovered in the rafters -- than I do thinking that Churchill or Thatcher once stood at that despatch box in the House of Commons while on a tour of the Palace of Westminster.
Post-war Britain was never my favourite period. I saw it mostly as black and white film or pictures of grey-haired men in grey suits meeting with other grey-haired men in grey suits from various countries around the world. The political, social and cultural climate seemed to me so very bland and lifeless. Thank goodness for Andrew Marr.
Within the first few pages of A History of Modern Britain, released to complement his television series of the same name, he had convinced me that I had been completely wrong, even blind as to my image of post-war Britain.
Not only can a book plunge ever deeper into the intricacies of British politics than a television programme, but my imagination allows me to colour that world in myself, rather than rely on monochrome footage. Marr explains everything vividly, vibrantly and concisely. He takes at most a paragraph to describe what others would do in ten, and yet nothing is left out in a book which takes us from the aftermath of the Second World War right through to Blair’s departure from Number Ten.
Interspersed among this litany of British history are anecdotes, quotes, and conversations which could have come straight from a script of Yes, Minister. No wonder it was Margaret Thatcher’s favourite television programme, mainly because it was so accurate.
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