Harold Wilson
In the dark early 1960s, at least we had the Beatles
The first half of the decade saw towns bulldozed, the Beeching cuts, everyday racism, political scandal and the threat of Armageddon. But there was also Beatlemania…
How sport helped shape the British character
David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity
Love and loathing at Harold Wilson’s No. 10
Even her enemies considered Marcia Williams the prime minister’s ‘political wife’, and the real force in the Labour party from the mid-1960s to Wilson’s resignation
A dutiful exercise carried out in a rush
The final volume of Peter Ackroyd’s History of England feels like a dutiful exercise carried out in a hurry, says Philip Hensher
Is it time for Keir Starmer to forget about uniting his party?
Campaigning to become Labour leader last year, Keir Starmer said Harold Wilson was his favourite party leader of the last…
General de Gaulle’s advice to the young Queen Elizabeth
There were so many ear-catching moments in Peter Hennessy’s series for Radio 4, Winds of Change, adapted from his new…
Scilly season: Shipwrecks, seclusion and Harold Wilson’s house
‘You can get away from everything,’ said Harold Wilson of the Isles of Scilly, ‘not only in distance but also…
Anarchy in the EU: the Sex Pistols’ drummer on why Brexit isn’t punk
Paul Cook, the Sex Pistols’ drummer, on fame, notoriety and why Brexit wouldn’t be punk
Is EU referendum rebellion career suicide? Ask Harold Wilson’s cabinet...
The outsiders Did the seven members of Harold Wilson’s cabinet who campaigned to leave the Common Market in the 1975…
Cameron’s EU referendum tactics make Harold Wilson look clever
David Cameron is now facing the biggest challenge of his leadership: how to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU without…
The art of political biography remains in intensive care if Giles Radice’s latest book is anything to go by, says Simon Heffer
With the odd exception — I think principally of Charles Moore’s life of Margaret Thatcher — the genre of political…
Five of the best celebrity biographies of 2014
Cilla Black has become a strange creature during her 50 years in showbiz. When her husband Bobby was in hospital…
Yanks buy stacks of tickets in the West End. Why is Made in Dagenham so rude to them?
Go slow at Dagenham. The musical based on the film about a pay dispute in the 1960s starts as a…
Was Roy Jenkins the greatest prime minister we never had?
Roy Jenkins may have been snobbish and self-indulgent, but he was also a visionary and man of principle who would have made a good prime minister, says Philip Ziegler
Profumo. Chatterley. The Beatles. 1963 was the year old England died
If you’re looking for the year when the old England died, this was it
