976 pages, Allen Lane, ISBN-13: 978-1846147371
With Who Dares Wins: Britain 1979-1982, Dominic Sandbrook continues his vast history of Great Britain from the late 1950s up to the present day – eventually. This is the fifth immense volume (weighing in at almost a thousand pages) and extends from Margaret Thatcher’s general election victory in May 1979 until the victorious conclusion of the Falklands War in 1982. Sandbrook snagged “Who Dares Wins” from the Special Air Service (SAS), a special forces unit of the British Army, using it to highlight what he sees as what differentiated the 1980s from the 1970s: “the rebirth of a patriotic populism” (something very similar occurred in the United States under President Reagan; no wonder Reagan and Thatcher got along like a house on fire).
While the beginning of Thatcher’s premiership may have looked like a continuation of the Bad Old Days of the 1970s – what with all of those industrial powerhouses folding and union thugs striking and football hooligans rioting and Irish terrorists exploding – it was the Iron Lady who took the reins and turned things around. Don’t believe me? Just ask Jim Callaghan, her immediate Labour predecessor at 10 Downing Street: “There are times, perhaps once every thirty years, when there is a sea-change in politics…I suspect there is now such a sea-change – and it is for Mrs. Thatcher”. This was said way back when political opponents could still say nice things about Those People on the other side, even if the praise was faint indeed.
As with his other works in this series, Sandbrook is not afraid to delve outside of the typical, respectable sources for his snatches of this near-past. For instance, one source he mines for 1980s comedic gold are “The Henry Root Letters” which were the creation of writer William Donaldson who wrote to numerous public figures with unusual or outlandish questions and requests. Or “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾”, written by Sue Townsend in the form of a diary, focusing on the worries and regrets of a teenager who believes himself to be an intellectual. Reading these two supposedly comedic but surprisingly insightful “fictional” works sometimes puts the mainstream media to shame, what with their joyous insights and pithy language.
Here are the early 1980s in all their gaudy glory: This is the story of Tony Benn, Ian Botham and Princess Diana; Joy Division, Chariots of Fire, the Austin Metro and Juliet Bravo; wine bars, Cruise missiles, the ZX Spectrum and the battle for the Falklands. And towering above them all, the most divisive Prime Minister of modern times (not an insult) – the Iron Lady. Vivid, surprising and gloriously entertaining, Dominic Sandbrook recreates the decisive turning point in Britain’s recent history. For some people this was an age of unparalleled opportunity, the heyday of computers and credit cards, snooker and Spandau Ballet. Yet for others it was an era of shocking bitterness, as industries collapsed, working-class communities buckled and the Labour Party tore itself apart. Poor Bastards.
Who Dares Wins is the fifth volume in Sandbrook’s history and there seems to be no end in sight. Sandbrook is clearly enjoying himself so much he can’t bear the series to end – and, as a reader, so am I. This is vividly panoramic history, ranging from high affairs of state to the tiniest textural details of everyday life: the Falklands factor and the F-plan diet, monetary targets and the mania for home improvement, steel strikes and “Sloane Rangers” (look it up). Sandbrook offers a provocative justification for narrowing the timeframe in his latest volume: 1979 to 1982 may be only three years, but they were “the most exciting and controversial years in our post-war history”.
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