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Seasons in the Sun
- The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 41 hrs and 15 mins
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Seasons in the Sun
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Summary
In the early 1970s, Britain seemed to be tottering on the brink of the abyss. Under Edward Heath, the optimism of the '60s had become a distant memory. Now the headlines were dominated by strikes and blackouts, unemployment and inflation. As the world looked on in horrified fascination, Britain seemed to be tearing itself apart. And yet, amid the gloom, glittered a creativity and cultural dynamism that would influence our lives long after the nightmarish '70s had been forgotten.
Dominic Sandbrook has recreated the gaudy, schizophrenic atmosphere of the early '70s: the world of Enoch Powell and Tony Benn, David Bowie and Brian Clough, Germaine Greer and Mary Whitehouse. An age when the unions were on the march and the socialist revolution seemed at hand, but also when feminism, permissiveness, pornography and environmentalism were transforming the lives of millions. It was an age of miners’ strikes, tower blocks, and IRA atrocities, but it also gave us celebrity footballers and high-street curry houses, organic foods and package holidays, gay rights and glam rock. For those who remember the days when you could buy a new colour television but power cuts stopped you from watching it, this book could hardly be more vivid. It is the perfect guide to a luridly colourful '70s landscape that shaped our present from the financial boardroom to the suburban bedroom.
In Seasons in the Sun, Dominic Sandbrook explores the bitter, turbulent world of Britain in the late 1970s, the years that brought punk to prominence and Margaret Thatcher to power. With inflation mounting, rubbish in the streets, bombs going off across London, and the economy in meltdown, the days of national greatness seemed a fading memory. Across the Western world, Britain was mocked as the "Sick Man of Europe", a byword for decline and self-destruction. In 1976 alone, race riots disrupted the Notting Hill Carnival, the retirement of Prime Minister Harold Wilson was overshadowed by allegations of corruption, the Sex Pistols made their shocking debut on national television, and Britain had to go cap in hand to the IMF.
Yet as Seasons in the Sun shows, there was more to late 1970s Britain than strikes and shortages. From rock music and television sitcoms to the novels of Martin Amis and the birth of the first home computers, this was a society caught between old and new: nostalgic for what had been lost, but already looking forward to a new and very different political and social order.
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What listeners say about Seasons in the Sun
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- SwordOfDamacles
- 01-12-21
Another universe, mercifully distant now
David Thorpe’s narration is extraordinary. Vivid and crisp. I shall be sad never to hear him do his Jim Callaghan impression again.
The book is lively. Sandbrook doesn’t lead us down too many blind alleys.
Some of it any student of history will know well; indeed even Wilson and the Clockwork Orange plot feels well trodden by now. Some parts are exciting on their own terms. The Labour monetarism of Healey had passed me by. Equally, Thatcher’s pre-79 equivocation.
And of course, Tony Benn comes off as a total c***.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr C J W Smeeton
- 13-02-23
A fantastic insight into this turbulent era in British politics
Superbly written, it challenges many long held beliefs from that period and does so with excellent pace. Very enjoyable narration helps to define the personalities
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 14-05-23
So that’s was happened between the ages of 3 & 8!
Excellent. 3rd book on the bounce for me. It’s 1970-1974 next; accents/voices great too!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Carrie
- 31-03-13
A brilliant social history
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A comprehensive social history which really brought the period to life. The narrator was excellent and kept a good pace which carried you along. It is a long book - and some chapters kept my interest more than others - but it's worth sticking with it.
It was one of the source books for This House - a play currently showing at National Theatre - that is worth seeing too!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Paul
- 08-02-14
Good but very political
I really enjoyed this book but and the reader does warn you in the beginning, it is very focused on our leaders of the time. This is the cornerstone of where the book goes and although I really enjoyed it I would have liked to hear about more about other things that went on.
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1 person found this helpful
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- TIM ROACH
- 23-02-21
When you’ve finished State of Emergency...
... it’s a no-brainer. Again, Sandbrook mixes political history with cultural highlights, including a detailed dissection of punk rock. Thorpe’s voices continue to entertain.
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- Haleh
- 05-10-20
amazing performance
A vivid nhistory of Britain. really good book with a marvelous and engaging narrator.
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- von Nichthoven
- 09-10-23
Brilliant story brilliantly read
This compelling story of the battle for the soul of the UK is told with wit and verve. This is magnified by a reading where all the voices are done with marvellous relish. Enoch Powell, Tony Benn, Woy the Boy and Shirl the Girl are all sent up delightfully. I knocked off a star for some repetition which should have been picked up by a sharper editor.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Francis
- 12-01-13
Seventies in detail
Both those who lived through these years and those born afterward will find this account illuminating and enjoyable.Over forty hours for five years may seem indulgent, but the detail this allows is fascinating and held my attention throughout. DominicSandbrook gives vivid ,shrewd accounts of major and minor characters and provides excellent description and analysis of such topics as the rise of punk, the role of the unions,the Thorpe murder trial,the winter of discontent etc. David Thorpe reads the long text superbly with unflagging enthusiasm and his successful mimicry of a very wide range of voices often gives a dramatic quality to the narrative. It would be excellent if he were to read the earlier volumes of Sandbrook's history :
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- sarah
- 18-11-13
A good book about a bleak time
If you could sum up Seasons in the Sun in three words, what would they be?
A recent anarchy
What other book might you compare Seasons in the Sun to, and why?
It's a history book about relatively recent times. It's better, more wide ranging and deeper than Andrew Marr's books about twentieth century British history.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
The narrator, David Thorpe, was brilliant at voicing the entire political establishment of the 1970's. Enoch to Benn and Wilson to Thatcher. Like Mike Yarwood.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
It's a long long book about only a few years.
Any additional comments?
To see how we have ended up today with a huge disparity in wealth and earnings with unions de-clawed, consumer choice wide beyond comprehension, you have to see what it was like in the 1970's with strikes, inflation, no choice in TV, few restaurants, football violence and a vacuum at the hear of government.
A very good book.
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3 people found this helpful