Books reviewer COLIN STEELE looks at three books that, he says, provide fascinating insights into Britain in the 20th century, accounts that reflect “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.

Alwyn Turner examines, in Little Englanders (Profile), “the last decade of British history” from the death of Queen Victoria to World War I, through a fascinating analysis of social and popular culture, an approach that David Kynaston has almost made his own.

Turner sees Edward VII, who succeeded Queen Victoria, as a latter-day Henry VIII, “though with multiple mistresses rather than wives”. 

This was an Edwardian era that saw poverty and increasing financial inequality; government corruption; the rise of populist newspapers such as the Daily Mail (“a paper for those who could read but not think” said Lord Salisbury); a 1905 Aliens Act aimed at outlawing rising immigration and the emergence of public celebrities through music hall, such as Marie Lloyd. 

The suffragette movement was emerging and social reform was on the political agenda. Asquith, the Liberal prime minister “the first premier not to have a country estate”, is praised by Turner as initiating the welfare state. New Year’s Day 1909 was when many got their first old-age pension. The Labour party was formed, led by another Keir – in this case Hardie

Fast-forward to World War II. The numerous contributors to British Internment and the Internment of Britons (Bloomsbury Academic), edited by Julie Carr and Rachel Pistol, deliver a revealing analysis of wartime internments, with similarities to present-day internments, including the current Conservative attempts to send refugees to Rwanda.

The book has three parts. The first covers in-depth the European “enemy aliens”, many of whom were interned on the Isle of Man. The second documents the internment of British civilians in Europe, of which PG Wodehouse was most controversial. Groups included the Roman Catholic Anglo-Maltesi, originally from Libya, who were interned in Italy. Many emigrated to Melbourne after 1945.

The third part covers European “enemy aliens” interned in the dominions, notably Australia, Canada and India. Largely funded by the British government, Australia took in Germans, Austrians and Italians, most famous of these from the HMT Dunera.

The chapter on the internees held in Camps 1-4 at Tatura in regional Victoria notes the frequent disputes between the different groupings and loyalties. The major drawback to a well- researched book, which fills a gap on the historical study of internees, is the price of $170, which will effectively prevent access for many to its content

David Kynaston’s A Northern Wind: Britain 1962 to 1965 (Bloomsbury), covers October 1962 to February 1965, a period which saw significant cultural and political change in Britain. In October 1962, the Beatles released their first single, Love Me Do, and the first James Bond film, Dr No, opened, while the book ends with Winston Churchill’s death in January 1965.

Kynaston ranges widely, in nearly 600 pages over public records, private diaries, political speeches, media coverage, in blending detail into a panoramic vision of Britain.

After 13 years, a Conservative government was clinging to power. Harold Macmillan’s 1957 election message “you’ve never had it so good” was fading with a deteriorating balance of payments and an increasing north-south economic divide, while the country as a whole dithered over Europe.

Two-and-a-half million people lived on or below the poverty line. One in nine in my hometown of West Hartlepool was on the dole. One third of the rail network was axed by Dr Richard Beeching’s cuts, the impact of which is still being felt today.

It was another Conservative government humiliated by scandal. Prominent minister, John Profumo, was caught lying to Parliament over the Christine Keeler affair. Who could forget Philip Larkin’s comment, “Christine Keeler’s newspaper order? – one Mail, one Observer and as many Times as possible”. Harold Wilson led Labour to victory in 1964.

Racism was still prevalent with many boarding houses having the sign “no coloureds”. Sixteen-and-a-half million people watched The Black-and-White Minstrel Show on the BBC, while Bristol bus workers refused to work with West Indians.

And yet it was also a period of emerging optimism found through the new Labour government, pop music, the arts and the teenage revolution. On television, programs emerged such as That Was the Week That Was, Coronation Street, Doctor Who and Top of the Pops, and individuals such as Joan Littlewood, Harold Pinter, Dennis Potter and Margaret Drabble.

Kynaston, in his epic “Tales of a New Jerusalem” series, scheduled to conclude with the 1979 Thatcher election, continues to provide a comprehensive and incisive bottom-up view of British history.