Real Britannia
In 2010, David Cameron made a blunder, announcing that Britain was a ‘junior partner’ to the United States in 1940.
In an attempt to make up for it, he then professed to the Today programme that 1940 was in fact the proudest year in all of British history.
But what was our proudest year? A YouGov poll taken shortly afterwards revealed that the issue divided the nation: men and Conservative electors voted for years in which Britain won important battles, while women, Labour and Lib Dem electors voted for years of social advance. Armed with the results of the poll, veteran political reporter Colin Brown went to find out the truth.
‘Is it really just whether you are male or female, Conservative or Labour, which decides your choice over Britain’s Proudest Year? What is the case for each year, on its own merits - what actually happened, and why do we remember it the way we do?’
Taking in the sights from the infamous Waterloo to Brixham in Devon where a lesser known glorious battle took place, Brown - himself an expert in spying spin - travels to the places where history was made to unearth the real story of what makes Britain great. Rich and witty, Real Britannia is populated by characters we think we know well: Elizabeth I, Suffragette Emily Davison, Churchill and Thatcher all make a play for their significant periods.
Did Elizabeth I, queen of spin, know the Armada had capitulated when she drafted one of history’s most inspiring speeches? Should the Falklands be seen as a declaration of Mrs Thatcher’s steely resolve or a grasping, imperial folly? Brown seeks out the truth, using previously unused materials and interviews with specialist historians to clear up some of the nonsense, and discover the #1 contender for Britain’s proudest year.
Colin Brown is author of the acclaimed Whitehall: The Street That Shaped a Nation. He has covered the Westminster beat for 30 years as a lobby correspondent for the leading national newspapers, including the Independent, the Guardian and the Sunday Telegraph.
Click here to buy the book, Real Britannia
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