This Sceptred Isle Empire Volume 3--1876-1947 [electronic resource]
Lee, Christopher2006
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As this final part of the story of the British Empire begins, the Empire is at its peak. It would continue to grow, but the self-confidence, the success, and the sheer splendour of the Empire in the late nineteenth century would never be equalled. The basis of the Empire's success was always commercial, and it was during this period that other great world powers - Germany, Japan, and, most of all, the USA - began to compete and dominate. And the commercial success of the colonies themselves would lead most of them to seek to run their affairs independently of the government in London. It's often said that Britain is the only imperial power in history to have given up its empire voluntarily. Nevertheless, this was often a painful process, and one that was not always managed effectively or without dreadful violence. Here are the passionate stories of Ireland, of General Gordon at Khartoum, of young Winston Churchill at the battle of Omdurman, of the follies and shame of two Boer Wars, of Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the worldwide grief at her death. Here, too, are accounts of the Empire's role in two World Wars, of the sowing of the seeds of modern-day confusion in Iraq, and finally of Gandhi and Jinnah, and India's painful and difficult path towards independence in 1947, after which the Empire almost miraculously transformed itself into the present-day Commonwealth.
Main title:
This Sceptred Isle Empire Volume 3--1876-1947 [electronic resource] / Christopher Lee
Author:
Lee, Christopher, AuthorStevenson, Juliet, Narrator
Edition:
Unabridged
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : BBC Audio, 2006
Collation:
1 online resource (1 audio file)
System details:
Mode of access: Internet
Biography/History:
Christopher Lee (born 1941) is a British writer, historian and broadcaster, best known for writing the radio documentary series This Sceptred Isle for the BBC read by Anna Massey and directed by Pete Atkin. Lee's career began after expulsion from school and running away to sea in an old tramp steamer built for the duration of World War II. In his Twenties he re-started education reading history at London University. He later joined the BBC as a defence and foreign affairs correspondent and was posted to Moscow and the Middle East. Leaving his career in journalism for academia, Lee was the first Quatercentenary Fellow in Contemporary History and Gomes Lecturer in Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He went on to research the history of ideas at Birkbeck College in the University of London. Lee is the originator and writer of the BBC Radio 4 trilogy This Sceptred Isle, which recounts the history of Britain from the Romans to the death of Queen Victoria, the 20th century and the British Empire. His recent books include the three accompanying volumes of This Sceptred Isle. In 2003 was published 1603, the history of the death of Elizabeth I and the arrival of the Stuarts. In 2005, Nelson and Napoleon described the events that led to the Battle of Trafalgar and also in the same year he published the autobiographic Eight Bells and Top Masts the story of his time as a deck boy and his circumnavigation of the globe and the Bath Detective thriller trilogy. In 2006, he gave a "Platform" talk on history writing and teaching at the National Theatre as a prelude to Alan Bennett's play The History Boys and a new stage play set in the London of 1912. His study of the British monarchy and its future was published in spring 2014 and his book on Royal Ceremony and Regalia is to be published early 2015. In 2011 he published a single-volume abridgment of Winston Churchill's four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. He is currently writing an authorised biography of Lord Carrington and the history of the Viceroys of India, with illustrations by his wife. He is also the writer of more than 100 Radio 4 plays and series including, The House for Timothy West, Julian Glover and Isla Blair, Colvil & Soames for Christopher Benjamin and Amanda Redman, Our Brave Boys for Martin Jarvis and Fiona Shaw and the Los Angeles production of his The Trial of Walter Ralegh which Rosalind Ayres produced with Michael York in the title role. His play, "A Pattern in Shrouds" was broadcast on Radio 4 in the summer of 2009 and deals with the consequences of the assassination of the Queen's uncle, Lord Mountbatten in 1979. In 2013 the BBC ran his play Air Force One that questioned the events during the 90 minutes between the assassination of President Kennedy and swearing in of Lyndon B Johnson aboard the presidential plane. In December 2014 Lee was commissioned as the Climate Change Analyst of the Fort Foundation examination of Climate Change and Global Warming data in preparation for the 2015 Paris Conference. Through the Fort Foundation and encouraged by its founder, Ted Fort, he was linked also as an observer to Climate Change work initiated by projects made possible by the work of a team led by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. Lee's direct interest in the global tapestry is the migration of masses due to global warming and the security consequences and has completed a study for the British Forces Broadcasting Service. His next major project is on the constitutional future of the British Royal Family to go alongside his book, Monarchy, The Past, The Present, The Future...?
ISBN:
9781405625333
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2785876
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