Winston Churchill wrote of Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary at the beginning of the 20th century, that, even though he never became Prime Minister, he 'made the weather', meaning that he played a crucial role in shaping the political agenda of his day. These lectures discuss six postwar politicians, none of whom became Prime Minister, but who, like Joseph Chamberlain, also made the weather and so helped to shape the age in which we live. For all information about this series of free public lectures by Professor Vernon Bogdanor, please visit the Gresham College website: www.gresham.ac.uk
About this course
- Videos:
- 6
- Duration:
- 5 hours
About the lecturer
Professor Vernon BogdanorVernon Bogdanor CBE is Emeritus Gresham Professor of Law, current Visiting Gresham Professor of Political History, Research Professor at King's College London, a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Prior to 2010, Professor Bogdanor Fellow of Brasenose College, is Professor of Government at Oxford University. He has been an adviser to a number of governments, including those of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Israel and Slovakia. His books include The People and the Party System, Multi-Party Politics and the Constitution, Power and the People, and Devolution in the United Kingdom. He is a frequent contributor to TV, radio and the press and is a sometime special advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities (1982-83), and the House of Commons Public Service Committee. Most recently he was awarded the Sir Isiaiah Berlin prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies by the Political Studies Association.
Six British Politicians who Shaped the 20th Century
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Lectures in this course (6)
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Aneurin Bevan and the Socialist Ideal - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
59:18
Aneurin Bevan was the leading postwar representative in Britain of the socialist ideal. He is best remembered for the creation of the National Health Service which he regarded as a symbol of applied socialism, a national service free at the point ...
1,956 views
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Iain Macleod and Decolonisation - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
55:42
Iain Macleod was, with Joseph Chamberlain, one of two great Colonial Secretaries of the 20th century. In the early 1960s, he ensured the rapid ending of Britain's African empire. This allowed Britain to avoid the imperial traumas which afflicted F...
651 views
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Roy Jenkins, Europe and the Civilised Society - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
53:50
Roy Jenkins was Home Secretary from 1965 to 1967 and again from 1974 to 1976. He sponsored homosexual law reform and the legalisation of abortion as well as legislation outlawing racial discrimination. He helped create what its supporters called t...
690 views
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Enoch Powell and the Sovereignty of Parliament - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
1:10:32
Enoch Powell was the most powerful postwar exponent of the idea of the sovereignty of Parliament and indeed of English nationalism, opposing the coming of a multiracial society, devolution, and entry into the Common Market, as the European Union u...
847 views
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Tony Benn and the Idea of Participation - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
50:26
Tony Benn has been the most prominent modern spokesman of the movement for participatory democracy. It was he who secured the right of hereditary peers to renounce their titles, the right of the people to vote on membership of the Common Market in...
675 views
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Sir Keith Joseph and the Market Economy - Professor Vernon Bogdanor
1:05:47
Sir Keith Joseph was the most articulate and powerful of the postwar exponents of the market economy at a time when it was distinctly unfashionable. He it was who provided the ideological dynamic for what came to be called Thatcherism. Indeed, Mar...
209 views