Benjamin Disraeli
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.
→ Listen on BBC Sounds website
Guests
- Lawrence Goldman
11 episodes
Emeritus Fellow in History at St Peter's College, University of Oxford -
Emily Jones No other episodes
Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Manchester -
Daisy Hay No other episodes
Professor of English Literature and Life Writing at the University of Exeter
Reading list
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Disraeli
Robert Blake (Faber & Faber, 2010) Google Books → -
Disraeli and the Bible
M. Dent ( 2024) -
Sybil; or, The Two Nations
Benjamin Disraeli (ed. N. Shrimpton) (Oxford University Press, 2017) Google Books → -
Mr and Mrs Disraeli: A Strange Romance
Daisy Hay (Chatto & Windus, 2015) Google Books → -
Disraeli: or, The Two Lives
Douglas Hurd and Edward Young (W&N, 2014) Google Books → -
Impressions of Disraeli: Mythmaking and the History of One Nation Conservatism, 1881-1940
Emily Jones ( 2023) -
The Politics of Pleasure: A Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli
William Kuhn (Simon & Schuster, 2007) Google Books → -
Disraeli: The Romance of Politics
Robert O'Kell (University of Toronto Press, 2013) Google Books → -
Disraeli and England
J.P. Parry ( 2000) -
Disraeli, the East and Religion: Tancred in Context
J.P. Parry ( 2017) -
Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
Cecil Roth (New York Philosophical library, 1952) Google Books → -
Disraelian Conservatism and Social Reform
Paul Smith (Routledge & Kegan Paul PLC, 1967) Google Books → -
Disraeli
John Vincent (Oxford University Press, 1990) Google Books → -
Politics and Social Change in Modern Britain
P.J. Waller (ed.) (Prentice Hall / Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1987)
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Programme ID: m0022z8v
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022z8v
Auto-category: 941.081 (British history 1837-1901)
Hello (First sentence from this episode)
Hello. Benjamin Disraeli, 1804 to 1881, was a major figure in Victorian British politics, both as Prime Minister, twice, and for long periods as Leader of the Opposition.