Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Seasons in the Sun
- The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 41 hrs and 15 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
Seasons in the Sun
Buy Now for £23.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
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.
What listeners say about Seasons in the Sun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
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***.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- 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!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- 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
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
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!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Haleh
- 05-10-20
amazing performance
A vivid nhistory of Britain. really good book with a marvelous and engaging narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Issy Isaacs
- 07-02-23
Excellent
All those people who are striking for higher wages. They should listen to this book and see what happens to the economy when there are massive pay rises. Living through the Seventies you had to be there. Fantastic series of books by Dominic Sandbrook
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- WILLIAM GREENWAY
- 01-07-17
Blimey!
Loved it. My teenage years vividly recreated, with the added political colouring I missed then
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful