Elizabethans: A History of How Modern Britain Was Forged

by Andrew Marr

Overview

The Sunday Times bestseller

THE STORY OF BRITAIN during the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Find out how Britain changed in this entrancing, lively portrait of Britain’s Elizabethan Age by bestselling writer and broadcaster Andrew Marr

Britain changed fundamentally during the Queen’s long, distinguished reign. So who made modern Britain the country it is today? How do we sum up the kind of people we are? What did it mean to be the new Elizabethans?

In this wonderfully told history, spanning back to when Queen Elizabeth became queen in 1953, Andrew Marr traces the people who have made Britain the country it is today. From the activists to the artists, the sports heroes to the innovators, these people pushed us forward, changed the conversation, encouraged us to eat better, to sing, think and to protest. They got things done. How will our generation be remembered in a hundred years’ time? And when you look back at Britain’s toughest moments in the past seventy years, what do you learn about its people and its values?

In brilliantly entertaining style and with unexpected insights into some of our sung and unsung heroes, this is our story as Elizabethans – the story of how 1950s Britain evolved into the diverse country we live in today. In short, it is the history of modern Britain.

FEATURING: David Attenborough. Marcus Rashford. Jan Morris. Diana Dors. Bob Geldof. David Olusoga. Elizabeth David. Zaha Hadid. Frank Crichlow. Quentin Crisp. Dusty Springfield. Captain Tom – and many others

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780008298425
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/01/2020
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Andrew Marr is a former editor of the Independent and BBC Political Editor. He currently hosts BBC 1’s Andrew Marr Show, and presented Radio 4’s Start the Week from 2005 to 2012. His acclaimed television documentary series include Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain and Andrew Marr’s The Making of Modern Britain. He is also a hugely successful non-fiction author.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Crown and the Corona xi

Part 1 Elizabethans at Home

1 Mountains to Climb 3

2 Proper Behaviour 12

3 A Word on Americans 29

4 Between Catastrophe and Golden Age 35

5 On Our Uppers 42

6 Upper Class in the 1950s 51

7 Nancy, and How to Speak Proper 56

8 British Shinto 64

9 Diana and Ruth 68

10 The Ballad of Stephen Ward 79

11 Punishment by Acquittal 86

12 The David and Jonathan of Permissive Britain 91

13 Schooling: The First Defeat of Socialism 94

14 The Rebel Conservative 111

15 Graham, a Very Naughty Boy? 121

16 Other Homosexualities 125

17 Hashtag MeToo and the Story of Ted 139

18 The British Journalist 146

19 Bad Behaviour: Real Women Break Through 155

20 Out of Control: New Ways of Misbehaving 161

21 Lara Croft and Her Boys 168

Part 2 Elizabethans in the World

22 Does Britain Have Friends? 173

23 Mountbatten and the Navy 182

24 New-Fangled Wars, Old-Fashioned Heroes 191

25 Bob the Good 200

26 Women and War 206

27 Getting Out 212

28 The Empire Loyalist 221

29 Farrokh Bomi Bulsara 230

30 Jayaben Desai 234

31 The Idea of a Nation 241

32 The Leaping Salmond 254

33 The Rev. Dan Dare 259

34 Elizabeth David, Good Eating and Europe 264

35 Europe, and British Europeans 271

36 The British California 278

37 Churchill, European Dreamer 285

38 The Road to Brexit 299

39 Brexit Warriors 302

40 From Burning Tower to Hostile Environment 311

41 Khadija Saye 316

Part 3 Elizabethans at Work

42 Didn't We Do Well? 325

43 'Houses and Meat and Not Being Scuppered' 329

44 Cathode Tubes and Isotopes: New Ways of Making 333

45 Crash! Sir Geoffrey de Havilland 337

46 The Robot We Never Used 341

47 Bernard and Norah: Let's Have Some Fun 343

48 To Potter is to Fly 348

49 How Others Saw Us 353

50 Success and Failure on the River Clyde 356

51 When We Made Great Ships 364

52 Clive Sinclair: Make it Small 371

53 The Rest of Creation 379

54 Anita and the Kindly Market 390

55 Ridley Scott 395

56 Nice Boys, Really 400

57 Outlandish Fruit 413

58 The Queen of the Curve 419

59 Strong Suckers and Raspberries: Making It Here 423

60 A Networked Nation? 430

61 Posh and Him 435

62 Beyond the Market 440

63 A Future 444

Acknowledgements 451

Image Credits 453

Jacket Credits 455

Index 457

Editorial Reviews

‘Like The Crown in book form: a stream of intriguing stories producing a mosaic that the reader, with expert steers from Marr, can glue together’ Guardian

Praise for Andrew Marr’s previous books

‘It is the clarity of his judgements, the arresting insights and the irrepressible wit that keep us hanging on to his words. Among his other qualities, Marr is the ideal history teacher that most people never had at school . . . A damned good read . . . This book will be read with pleasure, for Marr's ironic tone and ever-present pleasant presence.’
Bernard Crick, Edinburgh Review

‘A fine example of popular history . . . engaging and intelligent.’
Financial Times

‘He has the rare gift of being able to explain complex issues in a few crisp sentences.’
Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher