Roy Jenkins had a fascinating life. Born in 1920 in Abersychan, a mining community in Wales, he came from a strongly “Labour” family—his father, Arthur Jenkins, was a leading official in the Union of Mineworkers, eventually becoming a member of Parliament. Jenkins himself was elected to Parliament at the age of 28, working his way…
Tag: Roy Jenkins
Winston Churchill, Total Homo
Yeah, you read that right. Winston Spencer Leonard Churchill, worshipped by neocons as a monumental, more than human demi-god, had an eye for the lads. Or so says Michael Bloch in his diverting 2015 opus, Closet Queens Some 20th Century British Politicians. Although there’s no good evidence that Sir Winston ever went to bed with…
When William Gladstone died, did something else die too?
Somewhere or other I remarked that my “hobbies” include reading books about dinosaurs and British prime ministers. Well, I do, and recently I read my third biography of one of the greatest, William Gladstone, a Victorian figure second only to Victoria herself, born in 1809 and entering Parliament at age 22, where he would serve…