Benjamin Disraeli

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the major figures in Victorian British politics. Disraeli (1804 -1881) served both as Prime Minister twice and, for long periods, as leader of the opposition. Born a Jew, he was only permitted to enter Parliament as his father had him baptised into the Church of England when he was twelve. Disraeli was a gifted orator and, outside Parliament, he shared his views widely through several popular novels including Sybil or The Two Nations, which was to inspire the idea of One Nation Conservatism. He became close to Queen Victoria and she mourned his death with a primrose wreath, an event marked for years after by annual processions celebrating his life in politics.

With

Lawrence Goldman Emeritus Fellow in History at St Peter's College, University of Oxford

Emily Jones Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Manchester

And

Daisy Hay Professor of English Literature and Life Writing at the University of Exeter

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Robert Blake, Disraeli (first published 1966; Faber & Faber, 2010)

M. Dent, ‘Disraeli and the Bible’ (Journal of Victorian Culture 29, 2024)

Benjamin Disraeli (ed. N. Shrimpton), Sybil; or, The Two Nations (Oxford University Press, 2017)

Daisy Hay, Mr and Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance (Chatto & Windus, 2015)

Douglas Hurd and Edward Young, Disraeli: or, The Two Lives (W&N, 2014)

Emily Jones, ‘Impressions of Disraeli: Mythmaking and the History of One Nation Conservatism, 1881-1940’ (French Journal of British Studies 28, 2023)

William Kuhn, The Politics of Pleasure: A Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli (Simon & Schuster, 2007)

Robert O'Kell, Disraeli: The Romance of Politics (University of Toronto Press, 2013)

J.P. Parry, ‘Disraeli and England’ (Historical Journal 43, 2000)

J.P. Parry, ‘Disraeli, the East and Religion: Tancred in Context’ (English Historical Review 132, 2017)

Cecil Roth, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield (New York Philosophical library, 1952)

Paul Smith, Disraelian Conservatism and Social Reform (Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC, 1967)

John Vincent, Disraeli (Oxford University Press, 1990)

P.J. Waller (ed.), Politics and Social Change in Modern Britain (Prentice Hall / Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1987), especially the chapter ‘Style and Substance in Disraelian Social Reform’ by P. Ghosh

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.0	This is in our time from BBC Radio 4,
0:07.4	and this is one of more than a thousand episodes
0:10.0	you can find on BBC Sounds and on our website. If you scroll down the page for this
0:14.6	edition you find a reading list to go with it. I hope you enjoy the program.
0:19.8	Hello Benjamin Israeli 1804 to 1881 was a major figure in Victorian British politics
0:26.3	both as Prime Minister, twice and for long periods as leader of the opposition.
0:31.6	He was a gifted orator in Parliament and shared his views more widely
0:35.0	through several popular novels including Sibyl
0:38.0	or the two nations which was to inspire the idea of one nation conservatism.
0:42.0	Queen Victoria mourned his death with the
0:44.7	prima's wreath, an event marked by annual procession celebrating his life in
0:49.3	politics, the life in which he was born Jewish and could only become an MP as his father had baptized him as a Christian.
0:56.8	With me to discuss Benjamin Israelia, Lawrence Goldman,
0:59.6	emeritus fellow in history at St. Peter's College University of Oxford, Emily Jones, lecturer in
1:05.2	Modern British History at the University of Manchester, and Daisy Hay,
1:08.6	Professor of English Literature and Life Writing at the University of Exeter.
1:12.4	Daisy Hay, how did this rarely start out in life? literature and life writing at the University of Exeter.
1:13.0	Daisy, how did this rally start out in life?
1:15.2	What kind of education did he have?
1:17.4	Well he was, according to him, born in a library, which of course wasn't true, but what
1:21.5	he meant by that was he was born into the world created by his father Isaac Disraeli, a bookish minor celebrity in literary London.
	...

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