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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Yes, Prime Minister (2)

It’s been almost exactly a year since I (officially) started looking at reading biographies of British Prime Ministers. My idea was to start off with some of the more famous (or infamous) ones and then work backwards in time at least into the 19th century. I don’t think I’ll ever complete the whole list (I think there’s around 70 of the buggers) and I also don’t think that all of them actually have had biographies written about them. So, how have I done over the last 12 months? Not exactly brilliantly I’m afraid. I’ve added two more PM’s to my list (both from the EARLY 19th century!) and, rather inevitably, another book about Winston Churchill. This year I expect to add two more PM’s (both from the 20th century this time) and maybe another book or two about Churchill. So, this is where we stand today:

Winston S. Churchill (10th May 1940 – 26th July 1945) (26th October 1951 – 5th April 1955)

Young Titan – The Making of Winston Churchill by Michael Shelden

Churchill’s First War – Young Winston and the Fight against the Taliban by Con Couchlin.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (22nd January 1828 – 16th November 1830) (17th November 1834 – 9th December 1834)

Wellington by S G P Ward

Spencer Perceval (4th October 1809 – 11th May 1812)

The Assassination of the Prime Minister – John Bellingham and the Murder of Spencer Perceval by David C Hanrahan

It is a LONG journey but we have made the first few halting steps along the way. Personally I think that it’s going to be quite a fascinating trip, but then again I am a little strange at times….

8 comments:

Judy Krueger said...

I just got the Margaret Thatcher autobiography. Because of watching The Crown
I have a Churchill biography on my shelves somewhere but have not read it yet. He featured in the first season of The Crown and of course in many WWII novels I have read.
I have read several American Presidents biographies. I started with Truman, then did Eisenhower, Kennedy and have read the first 3 of Robert Caro's books on Lyndon B Johnson. Along with the LBJ books I read the first two of Taylor Branch's books on Martin Luther King. That made for quite a good look at American history from the standpoint of government vs the civil rights movement.
All so interesting to learn about what went on in the White House and Congress during the years I was growing up, blissfully unaware of all that stuff.

mudpuddle said...

wow, Judy: impressive! i've never heard of Spender Perceval... i'm a Disraeli fanatic; i've read most of his books and liked them; he must have been a remarkable person... his dad was even more interesting: Isaac, that is, who wrote encyclopedias about literature and authors...

CyberKitten said...

@ Judy: I might eventually be able to read a biography of Thatcher but I'm not 100% sure that I can bring myself to read her autobiography. If you want to read a general look at modern PMs I picked up 'The Prime Ministers - Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson' by Steve Richards. Haven't read it yet but it has good reviews. I have a few President biogs coming up - only from Bush jr to Nixon though (so far).

@ Mudpuddle: I doubt if many people have heard of Perceval despite him being our only assassinated PM. He's too far back to be on much interest to most people. I'd only heard of him in passing during my other reading. No doubt I'll get *really* obscure if I go down the PM rabbit hole too far. Disraeli is definitely on my list though!!

Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are Taken said...

I am still working on my dumb old presidents goal but it is not a focus anymore. I can't imagine what could have happened in the last couple years that would make me want to never hear the word 'president' again...until January 20th, 2021, that is.

mudpuddle said...

unimaginable!! hahahahhahh...

CyberKitten said...

@ Sarah: Yeah, reading about Presidents ATM is like reading about Pandemics.... A bit much when you're in the middle of a bad outbreak.... [grin]

James said...

Great idea for planned reading. Have you read "Disraeli" by Andre Maurois?

CyberKitten said...

@ James: Thanks. I do like a plan - even if I'm crap at keeping it. I haven't read anything on Disraeli *yet*. The Andre Maurois book looks pretty obscure though. I'll *see* if I can get a copy! One of the books I was looking at, and is already on my Amazon Wish List is: The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli by Richard Aldous. In effect I'd get two PM's for the price of one paperback [grin].