Thanks to a recommendation from Amo, I read this book during our Christmas week in Cabo.
It may not have been a typical "holiday" read (not much swash-buckling bodice-ripping going on in this volume), but it was completely absorbing.
The sub-title explained what "our times" meant - "The Age of Elizabeth II", so covered 1953 (when Liz was crowned) to 2008 (when it was written).
The first half of the book covered stuff that happened either before I was born, or before I could care less about what was going on in Parliament, or the World. Not that this book included American goings on, but it was the same with Watergate, JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers ... I heard these news items in the background, but was too busy drawing pictures of long-haired guitarists to bother with the details. That's one of the main reasons why I love books and movies rooted in history, whether it's ancient or recent history. They not only entertain, but tell stories that matter.
Only now can I appreciate the seriousness of a London-based chiropractor (Stephen Ward) pimping London call girls (Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies) to the UK Government's War Minister (John Profumo) AND a Russian spy (Eugene Ivanov) at the same time! All of that happened in 1963, but only when it was made into a 1989 film (starring John Hurt as Stephen Ward, Ian McKellen as John Profumo, and Joanne Walley-Kilmer as Christine Keeler) did I understand what actually happened.
That little episode, and hundreds more, are detailed in this excellent book.
One thread running through the book is the writer's repeated quotes from my favorite satirical magazine since I was old enough to read 'proper' literature - Private Eye. Because A.N.Wilson is such a pedantic bugger, I remember that whenever Private Eye mentioned him, they intentionally spelled his name wrong - A.N.Wislon. Wonderfully childish - right up my street.
If I wrote out the reasons for each of my gasps, WTFs, and "so THAT's what all that was about" exclamations, I'd end up writing up hundreds of pages of notes. It's impossible to pick out a couple of headlines, and maybe if you're not British, or not the right age, or still drawing pictures of your favorite artistes, you won't care.
However, if are interested in knowing what happened behind the scenes at any point since Elizabeth II came to the throne, read this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment