Beckett, When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies (2009)

Andy Beckett.
When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies.
London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 2009.

The 2010 paperback edition has a modified subtitle: When the Lights Went Out: What Really Happened to Britain in the Seventies.

Book Information: Publisher, hardcover; Publisher, paperback; Google Books; Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk.

When the Lights Went Out was named to the 2010 Long List for the Orwell Prize.

Andy Beckett and Ben Wilson, Discussion on When the Lights Went Out, Faber & Faber, May 2009 : Part 1, Part 2.

Author Information:

• Andy Beckett at The Guardian.
• Andy Beckett at the London Review of Books.
• Andy Beckett is also the author of:
  Pinochet in Piccadilly: Britain and Chile’s Hidden History, London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 2002.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.co.uk.]
  and
  Promised You a Miracle: UK 80-82, London: Allen Lane, 2015.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.co.uk.]

Book Reviews:

• Ian Jack, "Downhill from Here," London Review of Books, 27 August 2009.
• Francis Wheen, "When Candlemakers Got Rich," Literary Review, May 2009.

Video:
Introductory Documentaries

• Dominic Sandbrook, The 70s, BBC Productions, 2012.
  Part 1: Get It On 70-72.
  Part 2: Doomwatch 73-74 (blocked in USA).
  Part 3: Goodbye Great Britain 75-77.
  Part 4: The Winner Takes It All 77-79.
  BBC Two "The 70s" series webpage.
  This series is a good general introduction, very introductory, to 1970s Britain with brief highlights of political, social, cultural and economic history.
  Episode 4 includes a discussion of Comprehensive Schools; for more on this topic see: "The Best Days?" Panorama, BBC, 1977.
  Sandbrook is the author of:
  • State of Emergency: The Way We Were: Britain 1970-1974, Allen Lane 2010, Penguin Books 2011.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk.]
  • Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979, Allen Lane 2012, Penguin Books 2013.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk.]
• Dominic Sandbrook, Strange Days: Cold War Britain, BBC Productions, 2013.
  Episode 1: Red Dawn (copy 1; copy 2.)
  Episode 2: The Looking Glass War (blocked copy; copy 2; copy 3.)
  Episode 3: Two Tribes (copy 1; copy 2; copy 3.)


• Michael Cockerell, "The Lost World of the Seventies," BBC, 2012.
  Focuses on: Walter Walker; Frank Pakenham, Lord Longford; James Goldsmith; Robert Mark.
  Programme webpage at BBC Two.
  This program illuminates 1970s Britain through then-prominent individuals and the controversies in which they were entangled (right-wing coup planning against imagined communist subversion; pornography; asset-stripping corporate raiders, a symptom of economic decline; police corruption).


• Michael Cockerell, The Great Offices of State, BBC, 2010.
  Part 1: The Dark Department (Home Office).
  Part 2: Palace of Dreams (Foreign Office).
  Part 3: The Secret Treasury.
  Great Offices of State, Wikipedia.
  This series is not about the 1970s, although it does include some interviews with figures from the 1970s; it's inclusion here seems justified as it offers some insights into how the British government operates, then and now.


• Dominic Sandbrook, "The Way We Were: Britain at the Start of the Seventies," RSA, 23 September 2010.
  (Video webpage at the RSA.)


• Dominic Sandbrook, "Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979," Word on the Street, Sept 2013.

Political Parties

• "Tory! Tory! Tory!" Mentorn, BBC, 2006.
  Part 1: Outsiders (BBC episode info).
  Part 2: Path to Power (BBC episode info).
  Part 3: The Exercise of Power (BBC episode info).
  This series offers an excellent explanation of the politics of the period.
  Wikipedia article on Tory! Tory! Tory!.
• "The Night The Government Fell," BBC Parliament, 28 March 2009.
  Part 1: "A Parliamentary Coup".
  Part 2: "Tonight" episode from 28 March 1979.
  Part 3: George Cunningham.
  "The Night The Government Fell" 2009 BBC webpage with "A Parliamentary Coup" documentary and audio clips from the confidence debate.
  "The Night The Government Fell" 2009 BBC news article on programming scheduled to mark the 30th anniversary of the event.
  2004 BBC news article on a documentary produced in 2004 for the 25th anniversary of the event.
  1979 vote of no confidence in the government of James Callaghan, Wikipedia.
  Motions of no confidence in the United Kingdom, Wikipedia.
• "The Wilderness Years," BBC, 1995.
  Part 1: Cast into the Wilderness.
  Part 2: Comrades of War.
  Part 3: Enter the Rose.
  Part 4: The Pursuit of Power.
  (On the Labour Party after the 1970s.)

Vernon Bogdanor

• Vernon Bogdanor, "Britain in the 20th Century: The Collapse of the Postwar Settlement, 1964-1979," Gresham College, London, 13 March 2012.
  Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Britain in the 20th Century" series.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "The General Election, February 1974," Gresham College, London, 20 January 2015.
  Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Six General Elections" series.
  United Kingdom general election, February 1974, Wikipedia.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "The General Election, 1979," Gresham College, London, 10 March 2015.
  Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Six General Elections" series.
  The 1970s was a pivotal decade and 1979 was a pivotal year.
  United Kingdom general election, 1979, Wikipedia.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "Britain in the 20th Century: Thatcherism, 1979-1990," Gresham College, London, 24 April 2012.
  Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Britain in the 20th Century" series.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "Sir Keith Joseph and the Market Economy," Gresham College, London, 21 May 2013.
  Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Making the Weather: Six Politicians who shaped our age" series.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "The IMF Crisis, 1976," Gresham College, London, 19 January 2016.
  Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Political Crises Since 1945" series.

Biographies of Politicians

• Anthony Howard, "Harold Wilson: A Life," BBC, 1995.
• "The Plot Against Harold Wilson," BBC, 2006.
  (A mixture of Cold War paranoia, Tory distrust of the Labour government's subservience to the trade unions, and anxiety over Britain's weakened financial condition. These factors provided background to rumors of coup planning.)
• "Harold: The Wilson Years," Granada Television, ITV, 2006: Part 1; Part 2.
• Yesterday's Men, BBC, 1971.
  (On Harold Wilson's shadow cabinet after losing the 1970 general election.
  Yesterday's Men, Wikipedia.)
• "Heath vs Wilson: The 10-Year Duel," Telesgop, BBC, 2011.
  (Program webpage at BBC Four.)
• Michael Cockerell, "A Very Singular Man: A Film Portrait of Edward Heath," BBC, 1998.
  Rebroadcast under the modified title "Sir Ted: A Film Portrait of Edward Heath" in 2005.
• Michael Cockerell, "Labour's Last Premier: A Film Portrait of James Callaghan," BBC, 1992.
• Michael Cockerell, "Odd Man Out: A Film Portrait of Enoch Powell," BBC, 1995.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "Enoch Powell and the Sovereignty of Parliament," Gresham College, London, 12 March 2013.
  (Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Making the Weather: Six Politicians who shaped our age" series.)
• Michael Cockerell, "A Very Social Democrat: A Portrait of Roy Jenkins," BBC, 1996.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "Roy Jenkins, Europe and the Civilised Society," Gresham College, London, 15 January 2013.
  (Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Making the Weather: Six Politicians who shaped our age" series.)
• Michael Cockerell, "Labour's Old Romantic: A Film Portrait of Michael Foot," BBC, 1997.
• Tony Benn and Anthony Clare, "In the Psychiatrist's Chair," BBC Radio 4, 13 August 1995.
• "Westminster: Behind Closed Doors with Tony Benn," Parliamentary Films, BBC, 1995.
• Vernon Bogdanor, "Tony Benn and the Idea of Participation," Gresham College, London, 16 April 2013.
  (Lecture webpage at Gresham College; one in the "Making the Weather: Six Politicians who shaped our age" series.)
• "Tony Benn: Labour's Lost Leader," BBC Productions, 2014.

Miscellaneous 1970s

• "Ted Heath Election Broadcast 1974."
• Jim Callaghan Press Conference 1979.
  (This is the famous moment from which The Sun newspaper created the headline 'Crisis, What Crisis?')
• "Crisis? What Crisis?," Conservative Party, April 1979.
  (A political broadcast by the UK Conservative Party before the 1979 General Election.)
• "Thatcher Election Broadcast 1979," Conservative Party, April 1979.
• "Conservative Party Political Broadcast," Not the Nine O'Clock News, 1980?.
• Robin Day, "Politics in the 70s," BBC Radio 4:
  Part 1 of 6: Michael Foot and Enoch Powell, 10 June 1973.
  Part 6 of 6: Reginald Maudling, Roy Jenkins, Enoch Powell and Michael Foot, 15 July 1973.
• "Electric Dreams: The 1970s," BBC, 2010.
  (A family lives in a 1970s style home with very occasional notes of 1970s British history; the series focuses on consumer technology and family life.)
• Tom Baker, "Shameful Secrets of the 1970s," Granada and British Sky Broadcasting, 2005.
  (A celebration of folly and bad taste in popular culture.)
• The Queen's Diamond Decades - The 1970s, HTI, 2012.
  (A view of the 1970s in Britain different from the other videos listed here.)
• "Strikes and Blackouts," Till Death Us Do Part, Series 5, Episode 3, 23 January 1974.
• "Three Day Week," Till Death Us Do Part, Series 5, Episode 4, 30 January 1974.

1960s

• Dominic Sandbrook, "The Lost World of 1962," Gresham College, 05 July 2012.
  (Lecture webpage at Gresham College.)
• The 60s: The Beatles Decade, UKTV History, 2006.
  Episode 1: "Teenage Rebels: 1960-1962" (copy 1, copy 2)
  Episode 2: "Sex, Spies and Rock and Roll: 1962-1964" (copy 1, copy 2)
  Episode 3: "Swinging Britain: 1965-1966" (copy 1, copy 2)
  Episode 4: "Street Fighting Years: 1967-1968" (copy 1, copy 2)
  Episode 5: "The Party's Over: 1969 - 1970" (copy 1, copy 2)
• Harold Wilson, "Labour's Plan for Science," Speech at the Annual Conference, Scarborough, 1963. [PDF]
  • David Edgerton, "The 'White Heat' Revisited: The British Government and Technology in the 1960s," Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1996, pages 53-82. [PDF]
  • White Heat Conference, Centre for British Politics, The University of Nottingham, 05 July 2013. [Conference Report PDF.]
  • Steven Fielding and Colin Smith, "Wilson's White Heat," People's History Museum, Manchester, 01 October 2013.
    Event webpage at the People's History Museum.
    Article about this event in The Guardian.
  • Theo Blackwell, "'White heat' 50 years on: What lessons can we learn from the 'white heat of technology' speech 50 years on?," Progress, 01 October 2013.
• "Why I Hate the Sixties," BBC, 2004.
  (British social and cultural conservatives discuss the prelude to the 1970s.)

Economic History

• Roderick Floud and others, "The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain," Gresham College, London, 24 September 2014.
  (Event webpage at Gresham College.)
  See the talk by Nicholas Crafts starting after minute 46 for an economic historian's discussion of British economic growth during the post-war period. This is of course important for understanding and explaining British politics of the 1970s and after.
• Jeff Madrick, "Decline of America," Cooper Union, 02 June 2011.
  This talk is a review of economic history since the 1970s mostly focused on the USA.
  Jeff Madrick, Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present, New York: Knopf, 2011.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

Some Wikipedia Articles:

• 1970s.
• Years in the United Kingdom : 1970; 1971; 1972; 1973; 1974; 1975; 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979; 1980.
  
• Postwar Britain (1945-present).
• Post–World War II economic expansion.
• Post-war consensus.
• Economic history of the United Kingdom : 1945 to 2001.
• Economic history of the United Kingdom : 1960–1979: the Sixties and Seventies.
• Barbara Castle, "In Place of Strife: A Policy for Industrial Relations," London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1969.
• Nixon Shock (1971).
• Smithsonian Agreement (December 1971).
• 1973 oil crisis.
• 1979 oil crisis.
• 1970s energy crisis.
• 1973–75 recession.
• The Great Inflation (1970s).
• UK miners' strike (1972).
• Three-Day Week (January-March, 1974).
• Thames Estuary Airport, Maplin site planning abandoned 1974.
• Grunwick dispute (1976-1978).
  George Ward, The Daily Telegraph, 24 April 2012.
• Winter of Discontent (1978-1979).
• Labour Isn't Working, 1979 Conservative advertising campaign.
• United Kingdom general election, 1970.
• United Kingdom general election, February 1974.
• United Kingdom general election, October 1974.
• United Kingdom general election, 1979.
• Newly industrialized country.
• Post-industrial society.
• Deindustrialization.
• Deindustrialisation by country : United Kingdom.
• Economy of the United Kingdom.
Prime Ministers:
• Clement Attlee (July 1945 - October 1951)
• Winston Churchill (October 1951 - April 1955)
• Anthony Eden (April 1955 - January 1957)
• Harold Macmillan (January 1957 - October 1963)
• Alec Douglas-Home (October 1963 - October 1964)
• Harold Wilson (October 1964 - June 1970)
• Edward Heath (June 1970 - March 1974)
• Harold Wilson (March 1974 - April 1976)
• James Callaghan (April 1976 - May 1979)
• Margaret Thatcher (May 1979 - November 1990)
Labour MPs:
• Aneurin "Nye" Bevan (1897-1960).
• Hugh Gaitskell (1906-1963).
• Barbara Castle (1910-2002).
• Michael Foot (1913-2010).
• Anthony Crosland (1917-1977).
• Denis Healey (1917-2015).
• Roy Jenkins (1920-2003).
• Tony Benn (1925-2014).
• Shirley Williams (1930-).
• David Owen (1938-).
• Roy Hattersley (1932-).
Conservative MPs and Ministers:
• Enoch Powell (1912-1998).
• Reginald Maudling (1917-1979).
• Keith Joseph (1918-1994).
• William Whitelaw (1918-1999).
• Lord Carington (1919-).
• Anthony Barber (1920-2005).
• Francis Pym (1922-2008).
• Geoffrey Howe (1926-2015).
• Jim Prior (1927-).
• Douglas Hurd (1930-).
• Cecil Parkinson (1931-).
• Norman Tebbit (1931-).
• Peter Walker (1932-2010).
• Nigel Lawson (1932-).
• John Nott (1932-).
• Michael Heseltine (1933-).
• John Gummer (1939-).
• Kenneth Clarke (1940-).
Liberal MPs:
• Jeremy Thorpe (1929-2014).
• David Steel (1938-).
Other Political Activists:
• Mary Whitehouse (1910-2001).
• Arthur Seldon (1916-2005).
• John Hoskyns (1917-2014).
• Alfred Sherman (1919-2006).
• Ralph Harris (1924-2006).
• Marcia Williams (1932-).
• Bernard Donoughue (1934-).
• John Gouriet (1935-2010).
Trade Unions:
• TUC - Trades Union Congress.
• NUM - National Union of Mineworkers.
• TGWU - Transport and General Workers' Union.
• APEX - Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff.
Trade Union Leaders:
• Jack Jones (1913-2009).
• Arthur Scargill (1938-).

Other books on the 1970s noted in this blog:

• Turner, Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s (2008).
• Wheen, Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Days of Paranoia (2010).
• Stein, Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the Seventies (2010).
• Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (1996).
• Ferguson, Maier, et al. editors, The Shock of the Global: The 1970s in Perspective (2010).
• Ferguson & Rogers, Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics (1986).