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.

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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

• 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)