The first of our Lecture Series events for this academic year took place one Wednesday evening in mid-October, when historian and author Dominic Sandbrook, delivered a very interesting talk on Post War Britain.
Dominic is the author of eight books of modern history, as well as a series of historical novels, ‘The Adventures in Time’. He is a regular writer for The Daily Mail and The Sunday Times and has written and presented many documentaries for BBC Two and BBC Radio 4. Alongside his freelance writing, Dominic is also a Visiting Professor at King's College London. He presents the podcast ‘The Rest is History’ with his fellow historian Tom Holland.
His lecture took us through a ‘Top Ten’ of Political Moments since 1945 which were:
- The End of British India, 1947 – When India became independent, signifying the start of the end of an era in terms of the British Empire
- Austerity to Affluence, 1954 – The end of war rationing and the transition to affluence which followed in a relatively short amount of time.
- De Gaulle says Non, 1963 – When the French President, Charles de Gaulle, vetoed the United Kingdom's application to join the Common Market.
- A Woman Leader, 1975 – The election of Margaret Thatcher as the first female leader of the Conservative Party.
- Rubbish on the Streets, 1979 – The winter of discontent and the dissatisfaction of a nation.
- Victory in the Falklands, 1982 – The military operation which successfully retook the Falkland Islands from the Argentinians following an invasion.
- Big Bang, 1986 – The de-regulation of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) which helped transform the City of London into a leading international financial centre.
- The Rise of Populism, 1997 – The reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
- A Disunited Kingdom, 2014 – The Scottish referendum when ultimately Scotland voted against becoming an independent country by 55% to 45%.
- The B-Word, 2016 – Brexit and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Dominic spoke engagingly about each of the ten moments, explaining why he believed they were defining points in the history of Britain, what their roots were and what their effect was on events that followed.
It was an extremely interesting evening for all those present, as demonstrated by the many questions posed to Dominic at the end of his talk.
