Yes, Prime Minister (3)
This has been a pretty good year (so far!) for Prime
Minister related reads with a total of 3 books and 2 new PMs – and both 20th
century for a change! I only have 1 more ‘new’ PM referenced in a pile of
politics books (both actually biographies for a change too). But at least one
of those won’t be showing up until next year now. I do, however, have several
more coming on both Churchill and Chamberlin. But, overall, I think that
reasonably solid progress is being made here. MANY more to come – I hope!
Harold Macmillan (10th January 1957 – 18th
October 1963)
An English Affair – Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo
by Richard Davenport-Hines
Winston S. Churchill (10th May 1940 – 26th July 1945) (26th
October 1951 – 5th April 1955)
Franklin and Winston – An Intimate Portrait of an Epic
Friendship by Jon Meacham
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.
Neville Chamberlin (28th May 1937 – 10th
May 1940)
Munich – The 1938 Appeasement Crisis by David Faber
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 more than arguable that the modern world would be a very different place indeed if either Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill had either never existed or had failed to live long enough to gain great office. It is probably as arguable to contest that if their friendship had not been so close, or if it had not existed at all, that much of the post-1939 history we take for granted might not have happened. Looking back to those dangerous days from 1940-45 it is tempting to see the elevation of Churchill in Britain to the post of Prime Minister whilst Roosevelt sat in the Oval Office as something more than fortuitous. It was most certainly anything but ordained. Both incumbents followed a tortuous and often troubled path to those positions. Maybe this is one of the reasons that they became, in the most part, fast friends. But that was not always the case nor did the friendship go exactly smoothly during those dark days.
Roosevelt met Winston Churchill, then Minister of Munitions,
towards the close of WW1 and took an instant dislike to him. Winston was, of
course, known for his sometimes abrasive manner and his aura of superiority so
any negative impression from short acquaintance is understandable. Reports of
Churchill’s drinking habits (also notorious) worried Roosevelt when he was
informed of his rise to PM but it quickly became apparent that the two men were
on the ‘same page’ when it came to Britain’s stance with Germany. Despite
confident assertions that Britain would fall shortly after France (assertions
echoed by the US ambassador to the UK one Joseph P. Kennedy Sr, father of JFK)
the British fought on. Desperate for American aid – not yet financial but
military, political and psychological – and stymied by the US President’s hands
being tied by the Neutrality Act(s) the early relations was strained with
Churchill wooing and Roosevelt constantly having to resist his attentions. Only
slowly, and sometimes behind the back of Congress, did aid start to flow.
Fortunately, despite being too little, it did not end up being too late. With
the attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941 of course as well as the
unnecessary misstep of Germany’s declaration of war on America the floodgates
opened and Britain started to receive almost everything she wanted – at a cost.
The US had become the ‘arsenal of democracy’.
Both men still had a long war ahead of them. Roosevelts was,
as we know, shortened by illness and death but his growing incapacity failed to
slow him appreciably as the two western leaders, later joined by the Soviet
leader Stalin, planned the prosecution of the war as well as the future shape
of the world post-victory. In many ways these were the golden years of their
relationship – as Britain retained its place as a major player and as America slowly
increased in power, experience and ability on the battlefield. Inevitably, with
America’s economic might at its back it was only a matter of time before the US
equalled and then surpassed Britain in almost every respect. Britain was, at
least from the American viewpoint, looking backwards to her Empire whilst
America was focused on the future – a world free from war, the fear of war and
one bound together by free trade. Tensions grew between the great men
especially when Churchill became increasingly side-lined in favour of Stalin
who it now seemed would control a great and powerful ‘empire’ of his own.
Set against the backdrop of a global conflict this is a
great ‘sideways’ look at the period focusing on the intimate relationship
between THE western leaders of the age. Although I knew the rough outline of
this story going in I was most impressed by the level of detail as well as the
way the author managed to weave the lives of the two men together without
losing any of the power of the overall narrative. Definitely a must read for
anyone interested in either man (or both!) or for those interested in a very
important aspect of the background to World War 2. Recommended.
Links & Connections (3)
I’m enjoying this idea of linking sometimes very different books due to titles or close title matches. So here’s a few more from the last few months…
Dominion by C J Sansom
Dominion – The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland
[Two VERY different if almost as large books]
WTF? By Robert Preston
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – A Memoir by Kim Barker
[I think WTF is going to be the slogan of the decade!]
Munich by Robert Harris
Munich – The 1938 Appeasement Crisis by David Faber
[Two very interesting and highly entertaining reads
surrounding a pivotal event]
Although there’s nothing similar in the review pile ATM
there will be more coming. Plus I really liked the idea of reading the two
Munich books back to back. It WAS very ‘on point’ but I think reading a
fictional account and then a non-fiction account of the same incident added
value to both reads. Far less ‘on point’ was further reads on the uses/abuse of
history from two perspectives, two tales of British political sex scandals (one
fiction and one non-fiction separated by 50 years) and a Sharpe novel based in
India involving the East India Company followed by a detailed history of the
same institution that both ended around the same timeframe. Definitely MUCH
more of that sort of thing to come!
500 years after the Great Fire fell from the skies and destroyed the world the last human city – Toron – was beginning to fail. Hemmed in by a still dangerously polluted ocean and prevented from expanding into the radioactive wastes inland they could only build up. But after centuries of restrictive growth there is nowhere left to go. As the city’s economy grinds inexorably to a halt the malcontents in the lower city riot. With civil unrest on the rise there is only one hope – War! As the army gathers to attack the Barrier between the City and the Wastes a recently sentient AI dedicates itself to stop them. Meanwhile, in deep space, a malevolent evil presence, devoid of a physical body, approaches Earth looking for a body to inhabit and new worlds to conquer. Time is running out for humanity and the last city that holds them.
This is trilogy of shorter novels in a single binding:
Captives of the Flame (aka Out of the Dead City) [1963], The Towers of Toron [1964]
and The City of a Thousand Suns [1965]. I’m not actually sure if I’ve ever read
(or more accurately completed) a Delany novel before. I had a ‘go’ at ‘Dhalgren’
in my teens but it didn’t stick. I think I gave up on that pretty quickly. This
I read because of the reference to a “berserk computer” prompted me to add it
to my Man Vs Machine ‘series’ I’m working my way through presently.
Unfortunately said AI didn’t really appear in the book(s) very much or have
great an impact when it did. Despite the fact that I completed this I can’t say
that I enjoyed it overly much. The stories haven’t dated very well and although
they had some interesting plot lines and reasonable characterisation I lost
interest in the story about half way through. The original idea was a good one
I thought but the author managed to add in a series of (what I considered to
be) irrelevant sub-plots – like the non-corporeal alien – that didn’t really
move the story on that much as well as a ‘virtual’ war that quickly descended
into farce. I did think that this might just be a comment on the Vietnam
conflict but on second thought considered the publication date(s) to be a bit
early for that sort of thing. The idea of the (potentially at least) last
humans refusing to die off after surviving a nuclear war for so long could have
been – indeed should have been – a great read of humanity triumphing over
crushing adversity. Unfortunately this novel/novels was nothing of the sort.
Definitely a missed opportunity there. Not recommended.
It was not exactly an auspicious start to the enterprise. Fewer than expected investors had signed on to the undertaking. Certainly nowhere near the investment capital had been raised compared to their Dutch and Portuguese rivals. From the very start it was going to be an uphill struggle to survive. As if that wasn’t enough the first trading missions went badly – so badly that a significant number of trading ships simply vanished never to return. Only the interception of an already laden Dutch ship saved the company from going under in those early days. But Luck, as she has a tendency of doing, changes. Settlements were agreed with local princes and trading started flowing back – in a trickle at least. But the opportunities were truly immense. The British who landed in India, at Bengal, were astonished at the wealth seemingly there for the taking – if they could hold onto it. Security was, naturally, a problem. Months away from any relief they had to be able to defend themselves. The British navy was available in time of war – in other words quite often – but could hardly be prevailed upon to protect assets inland from the trading ports. But the Company did have something in its favour – money – and with money the ability to buy security in the form of mercenary captains and hired local soldiers trained to fight in the European way. A private Company hired itself a private army. They were not alone of course but gradually the Portuguese, the Dutch and even the French left the sub-continent effectively leaving it to the British to gobble up piecemeal. The Company and its plans were not without opposition however. The local leaders had been fighting amongst themselves for generations and knew a thing or two about warfare. They were even aware of European fighting styles and could afford European arms and European captains just as the Company could. But the local leaders had other things too – deep seated rivalries that could not just be set aside in the face of a common enemy, an overpowering sense of power and entitlement that had little foundation in reality and a mistaken belief that one or two lost battles would send the Company scuttling home to Britain. Things had gone too far for that. The Company was now so successful that it was FAR too big to fail. The revenue it generated for the British economy outweighed every other money stream by far. If the Company failed, some argued with a great deal of reason, then Britain itself could fail. So, gradually, reluctantly, the British government (whose Ministers already invested in the Company and who were loath to see their investments in peril) became more and more entangled in its operation and more and more dependent on its survival.
India, 1803. Guilt is not something Sergeant Richard Sharpe deals with easily. His tools are musket, sword and fist and none of these are worth a damned thing against the guilt he feels at losing his section. But as the only survivor of an act of treachery by an East India Company deserter Sharpe has something else he can work with – a thirst for revenge. The opportunity to do so arrives in the shape of Sharpe’s friend Colonel McCandless. Tasked with tracking down the traitor and bringing him to Company justice, Sergeant Sharpe becomes involved in the growing revolt to British rule in India. The Company with its powerful mercenary army is a threat to Mahratta rule and finds itself faced by a mercenary army just as professional, just as well armed and much larger. Paid for by the seemingly endless Indian wealth both the Company and the British forces headed by the inexperienced Sir Arthur Wellesley have got a fight on their hands. Meanwhile, Sharpe’s old enemy Sergeant Hakeswill has got something very unpleasant planned for him and, with the promise of a king’s ransom in gems he’s not alone. With the fighting heating up all around him Sharpe has his work cut out just to survive the next few months with his hide and his jewels intact.
This is my 19th Sharpe book (I think!) and the
series continues to entertain mightily. It was interesting seeing Sharpe in his
pre-officer days (not spoiling anything here!) and, of course, without his
seemingly permanent sidekick Sergeant Harper who he has yet to meet. As always,
despite his lowly birth Sharpe has a habit of making friends in high or at
least higher places who can both help and shield him along his road. Here it is
the bluff Scot Colonel McCandless who provides this support. Sharpe is here
very much at the earliest stages of his fighting career and even wonders if he
can stomach the inevitable death and destruction he is riding into. As any
reader of the series already knows Sharpe need not have worried overly much.
Dropped into a life or death situation he chose life – passionately, bloodily
and (almost to his own astonishment) joyfully. As pretty much always with
Sharpe novels this follows the formula of initiating event (the, in this case
fictional, massacre), small battle (the siege of Ahmednuggur), large battle
(Assaye) and complicating sub-plot (Hakeswill). Apart from the existence of Sharpe
himself and a few other minor characters the story follows actual events and
the battles happen pretty much as they did in 1803 including some of the more
minor but memorable incidents. Naturally there is a woman, French this time,
who falls into Sharpe’s bed (at least briefly) but I didn’t find Simone Joubert
a particularly memorable character. Overall this was a good solid read and I
enjoyed it greatly. Naturally, being me, it piqued my interest about Britain’s
role in India during that time and especially the role of the East India
Company in the events portrayed in the book. Luckily for me I had just the
source to feed my need to know such things – and that’s coming next. One more
thing which interested me. At one point a group of British cavalry approached Sharpe
carrying the ‘new’ Union flag (only called a JACK when it’s on the back of a
boat as I keep reminding people!) which, in its present form, was adopted in
1801. I do love details like this. Recommended for all historic combat buffs.
The Evolution of My Reading (Part 3) – A Meme stolen from abookolive on YouTube
This is the 3rd (and final) part of the meme
stolen from the ever interesting Olive. As before I’ve lifted the questions
that I thought would interest my regular readership and ones that I thought
would also be interesting, from my PoV, to answer. So……
Do you ever mark or dog-ear your books to ‘make them your
own’?
Absolutely not. I’ve lost count of the number of times
people pick up a book that I’d read and were astonished that it looked
pristine. Very occasionally a book might get damaged due to my carelessness but apart
from that they escape largely unmarked.
What trips you up in a book to the point where you consider
DNF-ing it?
I really try not to DNF books. A good way to achieve this is
to pick the type of books or authors I know I like and give the blurb on the
back a good read. I’m pretty good, after decades of experience, at picking
books I’m unlikely to DNF. However, even I make mistakes. It’s not totally
unusual for me to DNF one book per year. This year I DNF’d TWO and, to be
honest, almost DNF’s a third! Simple bad writing is enough for a rejection. If
I can see it going badly or just can’t stand the thought of several hundred
pages ahead of me then out it goes. Life is just far too short for bad books.
How do you deal with the overwhelming knowledge that we’ll
never read all the books?
As with inevitable things like death you just deal with it.
I certainly wouldn’t like to have lived in an era when it WAS possible to read
everything in print. What a limited world that would have been. Given a discriminating
mind you should be able to instantly ignore a huge proportion of books
published each year – at least 50% and probably nearer 80% can simply not even
be considered. That helps tremendously. BUT that still leaves at least hundreds
of books each year that are (at least potentially) worth reading. You just have
to read what you can and hope you don’t waste too much time reading average
stuff.
Are there any genres/categories of books you’d like to try
out or prioritise more?
As I’m ‘cursed’ with a butterfly-mind I have core interests
which I’ll always return to and then sudden or circumstantial interests that I
might focus on for weeks, months or even years before finding something else to
become obsessed about. There are a few areas that I’d like to spend more time
on presently – Espionage is one of them (I’m actually expecting to finish a
book about the early history of MI5 today) and I’m developing a bit of a
hankering for traditional Fantasy novels which is a bit odd…. We’ll see!
What are your favourite Top 5 non-fiction topics to read
about?
British History – almost any period.
Both World Wars
The Ancient World
Politics
Philosophy
How do you feel about autobiographies?
If done well they can be pretty good – except that they too
often suffer from being both blinkered and prone to self-publicity. I’d much
prefer a more distanced biography.
What is your favourite non-fiction book that has been
adapted to the screen – large or small?
No idea!!
What is your favourite genre of books outside non-fiction?
Science-Fiction and Historical novels.
What is a Classic you wish you could read again for the
first time?
War of the Worlds by H G Wells or Frankenstein by Mary
Shelly. Both excellent books.
What has been the fiction book that surprised you the most
this year?
Quite a few did actually by their excellent quality. The
last one to surprise me a lot was A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. Mostly
definitely a highlight of the year so far. See my 'Best of 2021' to be posted in Jan 2022.
How many books do you own and what is your read/unread
ratio?
I have no realistic idea of how many books I own. If I had
to guess it’d be in the region of 5-6 thousand….. Probably….. Read/Unread is
somewhere in the region of 60/40, but that’s very much a finger in the air
guess.
Would you ever try for a zero TBR?
Even if I only read the books I physically own (to say
nothing of my Amazon Wish List) I’m not sure if such a thing is actually
possible – unless I live well beyond the average life expectancy. Still adding
books as I go makes the very idea of a zero TBR quite laughable!
It seemed like the ideal solution. With her knowledge of the region and ability to speak the language well her recruitment was almost certain. Then, of course, there was the war. Being thousands of miles away in Malaya would not only remove Jean from the bombing and privation of London under German bombing but would be safer all round. No one thought that the Japanese posed any great threat to British holdings in the area. No one thought that they could move that fast or that the British and other European holdings in the area would fall so swiftly. Once the wave of Japanese conquest washed over Jean and her fellow female refugees there was only one thing uppermost in everyone’s mind – survival. To survive they had to adapt and some just couldn’t do that. As much as she tried and as much as she would have wished to Jean couldn’t save everyone. But wars end and with peace comes a new reality. Back in England Jean discovers that she has been left an inheritance that could transform her life. What she wants, what she needs to do, is to give something back to those who helped her and her fellow refugees survive in Malaya. Her journey back is both painful and healing in ways she could hardly have imagined from her office in London and it is in Malaya that she discovers something else – something that will change her life and the lives of so many others – the man who might have made the difference between hope and despair is alive. Her only thought, her only wish, is to find him.
Rather weirdly I thought this was a completely different
story – actually TWO completely different stories – than the one it actually
turned out to be (yes, I’m that switched on with Classic literature!). First I
thought – for some reason – that it was Ice Cold in Alex rather than the actual
title. Then, when I realised my mistake, I thought it was going to be a story
of hardship and survival in a women’s PoW camp much like one of my mother’s
favourite 1980’s TV series ‘Tenko’. What it actually turned out to be was a
brilliantly told love story between Jean Paget (who I honestly fell in love
with myself) and her Australian ‘saviour’ during the war. Told partially
through the eyes of an English lawyer overseeing her financial affairs (who
ALSO fell in love with the delightful Jean) and then mostly through the eyes of
Jean herself this was a story of an amazingly resilient young woman who never
took ‘no’ for an answer – and who certainly never assumed that something just
couldn’t be done without a bloody good reason (and she’d give it a go anyway!) –
changing lives for the better wherever she went because of her sheer dogged persistence.
Not only was this excellent novel a delight to read from the very first page it
also gave fascinating insights into Malaya (both from the PoV of the colonial
administration and the local people) and into 1940s/1950s Australia. You could
learn a lot about ranching in the outback from this book! Needless to say I was
VERY impressed by this book. This is only my second Shute novel (the first
being the end of the world classic ‘On the Beach’) and it most definitely won’t
be my last. After this experience I want to read everything he’s written. Don’t
be put off by the fact that this is essentially a love story, it’s quite
brilliant. Highly recommended if you want to be completely immersed in a
deservedly classic novel.
When the Profumo Affair burst into the headlines in May 1963 it passed me by. As I’d just turned 3 years old at the time this is hardly surprising. No doubt my mother, seeing the headlines and maybe even reading further in the Daily Sketch stopped for a moment to ‘tut’ and maybe say something about “London people”. It was only much, much later that I was introduced to the scandal that was fully expected to bring down a government and tarnish ‘the establishment’ for years to come. Despite the fact that the ‘affair’, as I discovered in this often riveting book, was pretty much a storm in a tea cup (Earl Grey no doubt!) and a largely manufactured one at that, books have been written, documentaries made and movies produced laying out in great detail the seedy demise of respectable 50’s Britain and the start of the so-called ‘Swinging 60’s’. As nearly always with such historical ‘myths and legends’ the reality is somewhat different from that portrayed in the tabloid press at the time and in the subsequent sensationalist TV and movie adaptations.
Britain in the late 1950’s was still recovering from the
Second World War. Despite the Prime Minister’s famous (or infamous) quote about
the British people ‘never having it so good’ they clearly wanted more. Women
especially had restricted lives, in the workplace, in public and especially in
the bedroom. In an era before The Pill or easily obtainable abortions women
were expected to be chaste before marriage and (re)productive afterwards.
Motherhood was to be their primary role – or at least that was the expectation
both from the general public and the Establishment. Naturally women, especially
young women, would have none of that. Like youth everywhere they wanted fun and
they wanted to have good times as often as possible. As always there were
enough men, in both high and low places, who were more than willing to show
them a good time. One of those men, in the early 1960’s was Jack Profumo who
most definitely had an eye for pretty girls. Indeed he married one – film actress
Valerie Hobson – in 1954. Not that this stopped him looking further afield.
Enter Christine Keeler, an attractive 20 something brunette, who wasn’t
bothered at all by Jack’s married status. One thing led to another and, as
things do, they ended up in bed together. So much so sordid and little of
national importance. Until that is it came to light who else Miss Keeler was
sharing her favours with - Yevgeny Ivanov, the Soviet naval attaché. On its own
even this wouldn’t have raised very many issues or eyebrows except for one very
important factor: Jack Profumo was the Minister of War (back in the days when
we had a War Department rather than a Ministry of Defence) so Miss Keeler’s
sleeping arrangements had suddenly become a matter of National Security.
The Evolution of My Reading (Part 2) – A Meme stolen from abookolive on YouTube
Are you a morning reader or night reader?
When I was working I was a lunchtime (often interrupted) and
evening reader. These days, which MUCH more time on my hands I’m an all-day
reader until around 6-7pm. Evenings are usually for gaming, chatting to the
guys online & Blogging & stuff (and spending FAR too much time on
YouTube!).
How quickly do you read and how much time do you devote to
reading on a daily basis?
Pre-retirement my aim was 50 pages a day (on average). I’d
read far more at weekends though so it spread out over the week. These days I
aim for 100 pages a day and usually exceed that. Once I hit my target for the
day I tend to slack off and do other things.
How many books do you average reading in a month?
Generally 8-10 depending on size and what else is going on.
As I’m generally reviewing 8 books a month now I like to keep a reasonable
review pile so I’m not in any great danger of running out of books to review
here.
Do you read multiple books at the same time?
Often, yes. I have a weird ‘rule’ I brought in a while ago
called Non-Fiction Sunday’s in order to increase my non-fiction reading (that
was back in the day when most of my reading was fiction). This means that if I’m
already reading a novel I put it to one side on Sunday and pick up a
non-fiction read, then back to my novel on Monday until I finish it – then I’ll
(generally) finish the non-fiction before moving on.
Do you challenge yourself to read a certain number of books
per year?
As long as I have enough to review I’m pretty cool with
numbers. Pre-retirement I aimed at 60-70. These days my aim is 100 per year.
How do you choose what to read next?
LOL- That could be a VERY complicated answer. I’ll give you
the short version otherwise this could be a whole Blog post. Presently I have
two stacks (or around 40 books total) on my sofa – I get one seat, the books
get the other. This is my ‘read next’ pile which is the confluence of other
book piles coming together to inform what I’m reading next. In addition to this
I roll a dice after each finished book to see if I’m adding a ‘random’ other
book to make things ‘interesting’ and keep things fresh. On top of this I do
get hankerings for particular books or types of books which I sometimes give in
to. Presently my brain is voting for Espionage and Fantasy. I’ve added an
Espionage non-fiction to be read soon and am musing the possibility of some Fantasy.
How do you find new books that interest you?
Bloggers I visit, Amazon recommends, shop visits, various
websites around the bazaars…. LOTS of places really. I’m always on the look-out
for something new.
What is your favourite resource for hearing about new (to
you) books?
Fiction-wise probably ‘Fantastic Fiction.com’. It’s
FANTASTIC.
Do you listen to any book podcasts?
No, I prefer to read physical books.
Do you listen to any music when you read?
There’s always music playing in my house. Presently
listening to Bjork.
Do you read a lot of older classics (in fiction) and
non-fiction or mostly more recent published reads?
The vast majority of my reading throughout the year
post-dates 2000 publication date. I do, however, also read a significant
percentage of books from the 20th & 19th century. I
certainly have no great objection to old books – even old non-fiction as long
as it looks interesting or relevant (not TOO out of date) – but even older
non-fiction can teach you about how knowledge or attitudes to things have
changed over time.
How do you feel about judging older books by modern
standards?
Judging older books my modern standards is inevitable. As
readers we (generally) HAVE modern standards so can’t really switch them on and
off like lightbulbs. People in the past often had different ideas, different
experiences and different levels of knowledge than we ‘moderns’ do. We also,
inevitably, have the benefit of hindsight so we can see where some ideas or
attitudes led. Likewise future generations will be judging us by THEIR
standards and, no doubt, finding us as wanting as we find writers and thinkers
of centuries past. But one of the positive things I often take from when
standards clash is just how far we’ve come since the days when people were
judged (without comment from others) on things like race, sex and orientation
that would literally be unthinkable for many today. I don’t primarily see ancestors
at fault, I see progress.
Even as a child he could see it – chaos everywhere he looked. The world was like an anthill without the co-ordinating effect of the queen at its heart. With each progressive step the world became a little grubbier, a little more poisoned, and a little less pleasant. Considering his future, especially after his father’s accident, there was only one career to pursue – politics. Not that his uncle approved. Oh, no. There was no money in politics and no real influence either. The future belonged to the businessman, the risk taker, the shaper of things in the real world. But Richard Remington was adamant and so, grudgingly, his uncle paid for his education. Making something of a name for himself Remington was elected to parliament for the Liberal party. Now, he thought, he could achieve things and start to fix the fundamental problems he saw that were deeply embedded in society. But politics, he discovered, is a slow process. He needed friends, political allies and, almost as important, a wife to support him. Slowly the contacts arrived, his articles gained approval and his reputation began to climb. Around the dinner table and in his London club the ideas still being formulated in his head began to take concrete shape – education above all else needed reform, the best of the best needed to rule, to guide the country forward into the modern age. But he was frustrated, with the speed of the political wheels, with the shallow nature of his fellow Liberals, with polemics and speeches that led nowhere. Then there was Isabel Rivers. The contrast with his wife, Margaret, couldn’t have been starker. Isabel was Richard’s biggest supporter, a tireless worker for his original election, vivacious, smart and both willing and able to argue the point with him late into the evening. Love and the subsequent affair seemed inevitable. Equally inevitable was the political fallout if the affair was discovered. They would have to end it – if they could.
