Elizabeth - David Starkey

David Starkey – Elizabeth (2000)
Biography – 340 pages – my copy (2001; paperback) bought for 1 penny from Amazon in August 2011
- 3 nods out of 5 -



Let’s get this straight: David Starkey is a pompous ass. For those who have watched his many upon many history documentaries, as well as his comments on the likes of Question Time (and more recently and controversially on Newsnight) you will agree with the Worm’s initial and cemented assessment of the man. That smugness, that air of haughty disdain for others, that general permeation of snobbery all confirms this. But we cannot take an enduring contribution of his: the great outpouring on Tudor history.

British television has few recognisable historians (Schama and Ferguson are a couple of others), and perhaps Starkey is the Big Cheese of them all. (Pomposity, it seems, has its advantages.) He has produced a long list of works on the hundred years of Tudor rule, and here, under the Worm’s spotlight, is Elizabeth: his treatment of the early years of Elizabeth The Very First in the mid sixteenth century, all before she became queen.

Like his documentaries, the book is divided in many small, bite-sized chapters, including Elizabeth’s childhood; the death of her father, Henry VIII; her reputed dalliances with her stepmother’s new husband; the death of her brother Edward VI; the possible plots against her sister, Mary; the battle between Protestantism and Catholicism; concluding on her settlement on coming to the throne in the late 1550s.

As to be expected with any biography, there is a fair amount of padding in Elizabeth’s earlier childhood years. Starkey is keen to place great emphasis on small events (including the detail and emotion of her handwriting, p.49); but more to the point of settling historiographical scores. The conjecture is great, but also great is the amount of detail.

The book gets into its stride with the death of Elizabeth’s brother, Edward the boy-king, and the resulting large shadow of doubt and deceit this caused. It seemed for a short while that both Elizabeth and bigger sister Mary were to be shunned from the crown in favour of the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, before Mary seized the throne and put to death all those who opposed her: and very nearly Elizabeth herself. It is one of British history’s greatest What Ifs on a possible heir of Mary and Philip, and what this would have meant from Catholicism on these isles.

All together, Starkey does an admirable job on Elizabeth’s formative years. For those who wish to gain a greater understanding of the queen, then they must search into the inner girl: of those insecurities and childhood struggles. However, it would be disingenuous to say Starkey provides the definitive biography on this period; that honour surely belongs to the efforts of a future historian. It seems being a pompous ass only gets someone so far. But, then again, he is our pompous ass. It takes one to know one, after all.

Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elizabeth-Dr-David-Starkey/dp/0099286572/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316858327&sr=1-1

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

William Golding – Lord of the Flies (1954)
Novel – 220 pages – my copy (paperback; 1979) bought for a few pennies in a charity shop a long time ago in a galaxy far away from here – read during August 2011
- 5 nods out of 5 -



The Worm was first introduced to Lord of the Flies in movie form many years ago. The enduring image continues to be that of a large rock falling upon Piggy’s head. In the process Piggy is killed, with the triumph of savagery over progress, of passion against reason, of the id over the ego.

Even those who have not read William Golding’s fantastic novel, many are aware of the story. A group of boys, ranging from six years to twelve years, are left stranded on a desert island. Left to their own devices, at first they continue with the symbols of their previous world – of authority figures (nominating a leader, Ralph; and in the rational mind of Piggy) – but eventually descend into mayhem and chaos. Ralph’s rival, Jack, creates a gang of hunters who consume the island in their philosophical mantra: ‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’

The lack of external authority of a grown-up leads to a breakdown of education and social norms. This is shown nowhere more clearly than in the downfall of Roger – later master executioner for the hunters - as he throws rocks at one of the little ‘uns near the story's beginning:

‘Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policeman and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.’

As Ralph is questioned ‘Who cares?’ about breaking the rules, he replies: ‘Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!’ And even this slips away from the group’s grasp, as common sense and order give way to a feral temptation, as shown in the breaking of the conch – the only symbol of authority left remaining.

And just who is the Lord of the Flies? This is the sow’s head, detached from body and placed upon a stick, who tells Simon: ‘There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.’ But this is the lord in Simon’s deluded mind. Perhaps the beast has a larger, implicit location – in the unconscious feelings let loose from the children on the island. Like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, it leaves an unsettling and frightening thought in the mind of the adult reader.

The officer at the book’s end is Ralph’s - and the collective boys – saviour, of all body, mind and soul. As the officer comments upon seeing them: ‘I should have thought that a pack of British boys – you’re all British aren’t you? – would have been able to put up a better show than that.’ Unfortunately for us, the reader, Golding proceeds to over-egg the pudding of the drama with the penultimate paragraph, as Ralph weeps for:

‘The end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy’.

But after such a story we can forgive him this melodrama. Lord of the Flies is a short book, but one filled with emotion, theory and never-ending reflection. A bona-fide 5 nodder, if the Worm ever did see one.


Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lord-Flies-William-Golding/dp/0571191479

England Under The Tudors - G.R. Elton

G.R. Elton – England Under The Tudors (1955)
History – 490 pages – my copy (paperback; 1991) on loan from University of Plymouth library, during August 2011
- 3 nods out of 5 -



Name England’s most illustrious monarchs of the past. No doubt two of the first on your lips are Henry VIII and Elizabeth, a king and queen of Tudor stock. Henry slept with, divorced and beheaded wives as if they were going out of style, all whilst picking a fight with the pope and spearheading a religious revolution. Elizabeth, his daughter, became the first successful female monarch of this isle, keeping her subjects in check with her tongue, whilst overseeing the defeat of the invading Spanish Armada (a feat continually celebrated over four hundred years today). With two such heavyweights, it is clear to see the Tudor age is not one to be sniffed or trifled with.

In recent decades the Tudors have been in print, on the television and up on the big screen, in various incarnations. The author of this book – England Under The Tudors – researched and wrote in a different time, away from the glamour, sex and violence; to bring this period to the masses of the immediate post-war period.

Elton takes us from the birth of the Tudor dynasty, from the Battle of Bosworth field in 1485 when Henry Tudor became king, to the end when his grand-daughter – Elizabeth – died in 1603. In-between the reader is treated to insight after insight to this period, including the break with Rome, the conflict of religion during ‘the mid-Tudor crisis’, as well as the Armada invasion of 1588. Great characters are placed under the microscope, such as Thomas Wolsey (‘the Great Cardinal’); the philosopher Thomas More; Thomas Cromwell - Henry’s instrument in doing away with Catholicism; as well as all those colourful names during the reign of Elizabeth: Dudley, Cecil, Essex and Raleigh.

But more than the popular history, Elton takes us through much historical debate, as well as concentrating on the ‘price revolution’ (when inflation soared) and the raging religious arguments. The typical truth-searching historian, Elton revises his arguments in later editions, in the 1970s and 1990s. In recent decades this period has gained even greater popularity and historical concentration: as seen in the narrative highlights from Weir and Starkey, as well as the dubious incarnations on the screen (The Tudors, anyone? Thought not!).

Despite an influx of new books and authors, Elton’s history remains readable and enjoyable. Although time will see such views superseded, the future decades will not detract from Elton’s writing style, his cutting comments and will to speak out on the major issues. Such a historian is needed for such an interesting age, to bring the Tudors to life for the modern generations; in this, Mr Elton has surely succeeded.

Buy it here on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/England-Under-Tudors-G-R-Elton/dp/041506533X