Real Britannia Our Ten Proudest Years - The Glory and the Spin Synopsis
1215: The Magna Carta. 1415: Henry V. 1588: Defeat of the Spanish Armada. 1688: The Bill of Rights. 1815: Waterloo. 1833: Abolition of the slave trade. 1928: Women's suffrage. 1940: Dunkirk and Churchill's last stand. 1945: Creation of the welfare state. 1982: Falklands War. Was the longbow behind the victory at Agincourt, or was it just that the English are better in mud? Did Queen Elizabeth I know the Armada had capitulated when she drafted one of history's most inspiring speeches? Where did Wellington meet his Waterloo? Were the Falklands testament to Mrs Thatcher's steel or a grasping, imperial folly?
Colin Brown is author of the acclaimed history Whitehall: The Street That Shaped a Nation. Formerly political editor of the Sunday Telegraph and Independent on Sunday, deputy political editor of the Independent, and correspondent for the Guardian, he covered breaking news in Downing Street and Westminster for over 30 years. He lives in London.
