Wind of Change : Post-War Britain 1945-1965 Start date 27 November 2015 End date 29 November 2015 Venue Madingley Hall Madingley Cambridge Tutor Dr Andrew Lacey Course code 1516NRX046 Director of Programmes For further information on this course, please contact Emma Jennings Clare Kerr, Public Programmes Co-ordinator 01223 746 237, clare.kerr@ice.cam.ac.uk To book See: www.ice.cam.ac.uk or telephone 01223 746262 Tutor biography Andrew Lacey completed a first degree in history followed by a postgraduate degree in Library and Information Studies. From 1988 he worked as a professional librarian in a variety of Colleges and Universities. From 1994 to 2005 he was College Librarian at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and, from 2001 to 2004, simultaneously Special Collections Librarian at the University of Leicester. Andrew was a member of the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Architecture and History of Art from 2005 to 2008. In tandem with his professional career, Andrew has pursued his academic interests and teaching in continuing education. He is a Tutor for both the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education and the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education. His teaching and research has included work on the English Civil War, sixteenth and seventeenth century English and European history, the relationship between art and power, and nineteenth and twentieth century European history. Andrew was awarded a doctorate by the University of Leicester for research on the cult of King Charles I and the fruits of this work were published by the Boydell Press. He has also published many articles and essays on aspects of sixteenth and seventeenth-century history including the writing and tutoring of an online course for the University of Oxford on the
English Civil War. He has also written and tutored a course for the University of Cambridge, Institute of Continuing Education, on the early Tudors, and is currently preparing another course for them on the life and times of Elizabeth. He has also been commissioned by the History Press to write a book on the churches and chapels of Cambridge. Website: www.andrewlacey.co.uk
Course programme Friday 27 November 2015 Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms. 19:00 Dinner 20:30 22:00 Session 1: The Cost of Victory, Britain in 1945. 22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion Saturday 28 November 2015 08:00 Breakfast 09:00 10:30 Session 2: Welfare and Austerity 1945 1951. 10:30 Coffee 11:00 12:30 Session 3: You ve never had it so good!, 1951 1964. 13:00 Lunch 14:00 16:00 Free (Optional film viewing: Passport to Pimlico ) 16:00 Tea 16:30 18:00 Session 4: From Empire to Commonwealth. 18:30 Dinner 20:00 21:30 Session 5: Pomp and Circumstance: one wedding, one coronation and a funeral. 21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion Sunday 29 November 2015 08:00 Breakfast 09:00 10:30 Session 6: Britain and the Cold War. 10:30 Coffee 11:00 12:30 Session 7: 1965 endings and new beginnings. 12:45 Lunch The course will disperse after lunch
Course syllabus Aims: This course aims: - To provide a broad narrative of the major political and social events in Britain between 1945 and 1965. - To explore some of the momentous social chances which occurred in this period. - To explore Britain s changing position and role in the world during this period. Content: The course will begin by assessing the state of Britain at the end of WW2, before going on to explore the actions of the Labour Government between 1945 and 1951. From there we will consider the Conservative government of 1951 to 1964, in particular the role of Harold Macmillan, this session will complement the next which will look at the end of the British Empire and how Britain adjusted or failed to adjust the a changing role in the world. The evening session will be centred around film clips of the three major state occasions in this period the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1947, the coronation of 1953 and Churchill s funeral in 1965. The first session on Sunday will focus on Britain s role in the Cold War, the relationship with America etc whilst the last session is designed to discuss some of the longterm social changes which came to a head in the mid ( swinging ) sixties. Presentation of the course: The course will consist of illustrated lecture/seminars, with the option of a film during free time on the Saturday afternoon. Outcomes: As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to: 1. Have some understanding of the narrative of events between 1945 and 1965. 2. Have some understanding of the changing role of Britain in the world in this period. 3. Have some understanding of the forces of social change which affected Britain after 1945.
Reading and resources list This booklist makes no claims to be comprehensive. The number of books and biographies published on post-war Britain is enormous, and their number seems to grow week by week. Although this makes the subject very exciting it does make it difficult to provide a booklist which is useful and reasonably up to date. Here are a few suggestions which I have found useful, I am sure you will know of others which you feel ought to have been included Essential Clarke, P. Hope and glory: Britain 1900 1990. London: Penguin, 1997. McKibbin, R. Parties and people: England 1914-1951. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. (An essential and insightful background to the politics of the period) Background Blake, R. The Conservative Party from Peel to Major. London: Heinemann, 1997. Boxer, A. The Conservative governments, 1951 1964. London: Longman, 1996. Burleigh, M. Small wars, faraway places : the genesis of the modern world, 1945 65. London: Macmillan, 2013. Clarke, P. A question of leadership: from Gladstone to Blair 2nd ed. London: Penguin, 1999. Davenport-Hines, R. An English affair: sex, class and power in the age of Profumo. London: HarperPress, 2013. Harris, K. Attlee Revised edition London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1995. Harrison, B. Seeking a role: the United Kingdom, 1951-1970. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 2009. Harrison, B. The transformation of British politics, 1860-1995. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1996. Hennessy, P. & Seldon, A. (eds) Ruling performance: British governments from Attlee to Thatcher. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987. Hennessy, P. Never again: Britain, 1945 1951. London: Jonathan Cape, 1992. Hennessy, P. Having it so good: Britain in the fifties. London: Allen Lane, 2006. Hennessy, P. The Prime Minister: the office and its holders since 1945. London: Allen Lane, 2000. Jefferys, K. The Attlee governments 1945 1951. London: Longman, 1992.
Jenkins, R. Churchill. London: Macmillan, 2001. Kynaston, D. Austerity Britain 1945 1951. London: Bloomsbury, 2007. Kynaston, D. Family Britain 1951 1957.London: Bloomsbury, 2009 Kynaston, D. Modernity Britain: opening the box, 1957 59. London, Bloomsbury, 2013. Lloyd, T. Empire, welfare state, Europe: history of the United Kingdom, 1906-2001 5th ed. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2002. Marr, A. The making of modern Britain. London: Macmillan, 2009. May, A. Britain and Europe since 1945. Harlow: Pearson, 1999. Morgan, K.O. Labour in power 1945-1951. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. Morris, J. Farewell the trumpets: an imperial retreat. London: Faber, 1998. Robbins, K. Churchill (Profiles in power). London: Longman, 1992. Thomas-Symonds, N. Attlee: a life in politics. London: Tauris, 2010. Thorpe, D.C. Supermac: the life of Harold Macmillan. London: Chatto and Windus, 2012. Thorpe, D.C. Eden: the life and times of Anthony Eden, first Earl of Avon, 1897 1977. London : Chatto & Windus, 2003. Webb, S. The best days of our lives: school-life in post-war Britain. Stroud: The History Press, 2013. Note Students of the Institute of Continuing Education are entitled to 20% discount on books published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) which are purchased at the Press bookshop, 1 Trinity Street, Cambridge (Mon-Sat 9am 5:30pm, Sun 11am 5pm). A letter or email confirming acceptance on to a current Institute course should be taken as evidence of enrolment. Information correct as of: 11 November 2015