Month: April 2017

20th century history, Election 2017, Oral history, Post-1945 history, Social history

Election 2017: Snap elections, memories of 1974

Last week Theresa May shocked the political establishment by calling a snap election. In the first in our 2017 election campaign series, we take a look back at the two elections of 1974 through the memories of our oral history project interviewees… Modern political wisdom has urged caution on Prime Ministers considering calling early elections, in part thanks to memories of 1974. There were two … Continue reading Election 2017: Snap elections, memories of 1974

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19th Century history, Conferences/seminars, Social history

Parliaments, Politics & People Seminar: Edward Hicks, ‘The importance of character: Spencer Perceval and the early nineteenth century House of Commons’

At our last ‘Parliaments, Politics & People‘ seminar of lent term, Edward Hicks (University of Oxford) spoke on: ‘“The best regulated ambition I ever witnessed”: Spencer Perceval and the Importance of Character in the Parliaments of the Napoleonic Wars’. Here he reports back on his paper… The death of Pitt the Younger in 1806 left a void in the political world of late Hanoverian Britain, … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics & People Seminar: Edward Hicks, ‘The importance of character: Spencer Perceval and the early nineteenth century House of Commons’

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18th Century history, 20th century history, Early modern history, Religious history, Social history

‘Time, that great discoverer of truth and falsehood’: the calendar change of 1752 and the dating of Easter

As Easter weekend – late this year – approaches, Dr Robin Eagles, Senior Research Fellow in the House of Lords 1660-1832 section, discusses the timing of Easter and the 18th century change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar… On 25 February 1751 Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield, introduced into the House of Lords a bill for amending the calendar after he had, … Continue reading ‘Time, that great discoverer of truth and falsehood’: the calendar change of 1752 and the dating of Easter

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20th century history, Oral history, Post-1945 history, Social history

Voices from our oral history project: Sir Clive Bossom, Bt.

Sadly last month another of our oral history project interviewees passed away: former Conservative MP Sir Clive Bossom. Here we take a look back on our interview with him… Sir Clive Bossom, who died last month aged 99, was one of our older interviewees. He has been fondly remembered both as a hardworking backbench MP for Leominster (1959-74) and for his involvement in motorsport. Bossom … Continue reading Voices from our oral history project: Sir Clive Bossom, Bt.

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