The Night Of The Long Knives: 1962.

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  • Опубліковано 14 вер 2024
  • BBC documentary written and presented by Michael Cockerell, about the most notorious cabinet reshuffle in the history of UK politics when the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked, with no warning, several long serving cabinet colleagues, including his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Selwyn Lloyd.

КОМЕНТАРІ • 301

  • @pix046
    @pix046 8 років тому +101

    I saw this at the time it was made in 1989, 27 years after The Night. Now it is 27 years since this programme was made.

    • @richardlaversuch9460
      @richardlaversuch9460 5 років тому +2

      Three more years now ...and counting.

    • @barryroach1980
      @barryroach1980 5 років тому +1

      And who would have thought what Aitken would have got up to and his destiny in 89!!!!

    • @frederickmiles327
      @frederickmiles327 4 роки тому +3

      Rule by the aristocracy was so much more amusing than the current situation of deference to the techies and proles. I mean the polytech and comprehensive instructors insult the past profession. Call the current mob teachers. A teacher is really a junior lecturer, giving you a guide or clue or verbal,, slap on the wrist to concentrate and getting you to synthesis the material or work it yourself. This was indeed still the case for most students at TBHS and apparently at Eton in the early 1970s and certainly all History students. ( This is corrected by RF as I believe the current policy of spoon feeding, suggested answers and not mastering core History facts and world views is an ignorant) neglect.

    • @RR5k
      @RR5k Рік тому +2

      34 years now..

    • @wltb3486
      @wltb3486 Місяць тому +2

      35 years now

  • @ITVWeatherFans
    @ITVWeatherFans 5 років тому +60

    Thanks for sharing, very interesting documentary and an example of they used to be and should be made. No recaps every five minutes, loud background music, frequent jumpcuts etc. It's funny, out of everyone who was affected by The Night Of The Long Knives, I feel slight sympathy for Macmillan, extreme sympathy for Selwyn, but most sorry for Selwyn's poor dog. Knowing what we do now about how faithful dogs are and their acute sense of distress in their owners, the poor dog was obviously literally and mentally lost with it's owner. Michael Cockerell's description of it like a "ghost" was poignantly apt.

    • @alex-xz2dm
      @alex-xz2dm 5 років тому +1

      and no cgi

    • @MauriatOttolink
      @MauriatOttolink 4 роки тому

      @@alex-xz2dm Read about the REAL "Night of the Long knives organised by that rather nice Mr Hitler.
      Promise you..not a trace of levity, there

  • @mediantrader
    @mediantrader 5 років тому +15

    One of the best documentaries i have seen for years! This is a great work. I thank all involved in the creative process for leavings such a revealing document.

  • @insertclevername4123
    @insertclevername4123 2 місяці тому +1

    --Michael Cockerell: I know he's retired and infirm, but I think bringing Jeremy Thorpe to deliver his famous zinger about Macmillan's character will be a good way to wrap things up.
    --Producer: Um...are you sure we want Jeremy Thorpe dunking on someone's character?
    --Cockerell: Well, his voice isn't what it used to be, but give me one reason why we shouldn't have Jeremy on. Although we'll end with Selwyn Lloyd's dog. People love stories about dogs.
    --Producer: (Speaking of reasons not to bring on Thorpe...)

  • @markcoveryourassets
    @markcoveryourassets 5 років тому +43

    “His decision to raise taxes on children’s sweets and ice cream... did nothing for party morale.” 4:58

    • @holmes5517
      @holmes5517 5 років тому +15

      Perhaps it saved their teeth

    • @MauriatOttolink
      @MauriatOttolink 4 роки тому +2

      markcoveryour assets
      No ..but I bet it bent a bit, the account book of many a Ferrari driving dentist

    • @cBearTV-
      @cBearTV- 4 роки тому +7

      "did nothing for party morale" must be the biggest understatement of the whole programme 👍🙄

    • @floris.927
      @floris.927 3 роки тому +1

      People made a similar comment about Margaret Thatcher who, as a chemist, developed a method to make fluffy ice cream using less cream ... honestly what’s up with Tories and sweets?

    • @hoolley
      @hoolley 3 роки тому

      What the price of sweets impacted on morale? Thats just daft

  • @That_Random_Bloke
    @That_Random_Bloke 2 роки тому +11

    25:29 I love this story from Macmillan’s grandson.

  • @JasonJason210
    @JasonJason210 6 років тому +10

    Great Documentary - thanks for sharing!

  • @marc21091
    @marc21091 5 років тому +10

    Fascinating to see the ways the politicians talked then. Most of the interviews were in the 1970s, including of Macmillan himself, though a few (such as that of Quintin Hogg) were at the time the film was made, 1989. Lord Stockton was Macmillan's grandson - son of Maurice Macmillan who was an MP but died before Harold did. The reference in Lord Stockton's reminisce was to a street market trader talking to Maurice Macmillan's wife. Would we prefer the Government to be composed today not of who we have (in April 2019) but of people like Macmillan, Butler, Hogg, Lloyd and Macleod? Perhaps yes.

  • @Grifiki
    @Grifiki 9 років тому +10

    "Lizzie of London! When Lizzie say's 'Cut off their heads' she meant it."

  • @ysgol3
    @ysgol3 5 років тому +10

    There are so many wonderful Macmillan stories. One, told I think by Michael Cockerell, the presenter here, is about a BBC crew arriving to interview Macmillan, and after a delay having him wheeled in in a chair acting as if he was on death's door, and therefore free to make the most frank and cutting comments about the government. Cockerell then said that he and the crew, as they were approaching the house, had seen through a window Macmillan in his library, on tip toes on top of a ladder reaching for a book.
    My favourite though is the story of Macmillan's reaction to seeing in 1972 a would be American presidential candidate breaking down in tears on TV when criticising reports of his wife's alcoholism.
    After Macmillan had said how ridiculous this was, his companion asked him how he would have reacted if soeone had said the same thing about his wife (the then late Lady Dorothy, daughter of the Duke of Devonshire).
    Macmillan instantly replied 'I would have said, 'You should have seen her mother'' '.

    • @ysgol3
      @ysgol3 4 роки тому

      @Paul Gavin Ha ha, yes. Typically brilliant and funny remark.

  • @meredith218461
    @meredith218461 Місяць тому

    As Harold Wilson once opined ''a week in politics is a long time''. A fascinating documentary of an old boys network of politicians with its attendant treachery.

  • @evanstj5
    @evanstj5 5 років тому +6

    Extraordinary. These tired, grey Tory men (all men) look pretty knackered in 1962 and here they are bright-eyed and bushy tailed in 1989 !

  • @zulkiflijamil4033
    @zulkiflijamil4033 9 місяців тому +1

    Stagflation is stagnation plus inflation. Thanks so much for this particular upload and sharing.

  • @Carpetlay1
    @Carpetlay1 6 років тому +11

    That’s funny. Wilson also left his dog at Chequers. We could do with a night of the long knives right now and while she’s at it, she should include herself

  • @petercraig6802
    @petercraig6802 5 років тому +12

    Fascinating! I was 9yrs old at the time of these events and just getting interested in politics coz of my Dad (Labour). Vividly remember so many of the people involved especially Enoch Powell of course. Couldn't remember Keith Joseph being in govt that early. Whatever you think of Macmillan, at least he gave sound support to JFK during the Cuban Missile crisis which happened just 3 months later in Oct 1962. P.S. Great British moment at 9:16 where a news cameraman raises his hat while filming as Rab Butler walks past !!

  • @cotswoldcuckoo775
    @cotswoldcuckoo775 7 років тому +12

    You've never had it. So good !!!

    • @brianrodney5202
      @brianrodney5202 7 років тому +1

      Harold Macmillan was not ' having it so good ' - a Member of Parliament took over his conjugal duties over a period of about twenty years.

    • @splinterbyrd
      @splinterbyrd 5 років тому +6

      _Private Eye_ at the 1970 general election;
      Harold Wilson: "You've never had it so good"
      Ted Heath:"And I've never had it!"

    • @sharondavies7802
      @sharondavies7802 4 роки тому

      Cotswold Cuckoo b

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 4 роки тому

      @@brianrodney5202 ...along with a good number of small boys...

  • @richardlaversuch2901
    @richardlaversuch2901 8 років тому +7

    Macmillan gives the impression of extreme complacency; he "knows" he is right

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 7 років тому +2

      He gave people confidence when they most needed it. Blair did the same.

    • @dreamdiction
      @dreamdiction 5 років тому +1

      Richard Laversuch Macmillan was a puppet of the Judeo-Masonic Cabal, that's why he was complacent.

    • @herbayum76
      @herbayum76 5 років тому +6

      @@dreamdiction there we go again... please grow up

  • @jeremymarshall7319
    @jeremymarshall7319 9 років тому +8

    Even Lord Hill gets his dental work through National Health.

  • @Meckiffe1976
    @Meckiffe1976 Рік тому +2

    This is fascinating to watch in the light of the Truss/Johnson/Sunak debacle. Tories eating eachother in an environment of stagflation and labour ascendancy. The main difference I see here is that the players don't have real money. Lloyd (Chancellor of the Exchequer) cannot afford the apartment on his own dime and the defense minister had to get his wife to come and get him rather than pay for a taxi. Yeah! The Good Old Days!

  • @akumar7366
    @akumar7366 4 роки тому +4

    Fascinating, I was born after the events but my lovely father lived through the time in question.

  • @richardlaversuch9460
    @richardlaversuch9460 5 років тому +5

    To me, Macmillan has an aura of self-satisfied complacency.

    • @zeddeka
      @zeddeka 4 роки тому +5

      It's part of the image men if his generation and background were brought up to be like. "Unflappable" and " effortlessly superior"

  • @markhayward7400
    @markhayward7400 Рік тому +1

    "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life"
    so said Jeremy Thorpe of the Liberal Party about Harold Macmillan’s night of the long knives in 1963.

    • @adamfowle8073
      @adamfowle8073 22 дні тому +1

      And we should all abide by Thorpe's morals...

    • @Compleme_Cunm
      @Compleme_Cunm 14 днів тому +1

      ​@@adamfowle8073'He disposed of his Ministers as though they were an ex-lover's dog'

  • @5thdimensionliving727
    @5thdimensionliving727 Рік тому +2

    Let’s see what long knives Rishi the new PM is getting out for Truss’ failed cabinet 😮

  • @billybabu
    @billybabu 2 роки тому +2

    Remember good cooks are hard to find because they know where all the knives are 🙈😬

  • @tonywalsh5444
    @tonywalsh5444 5 років тому +4

    The real night of the long knives was the Ernst Rohm purge in Germany in 1934. At least in this purge no one was killed.

    • @thedativecase9733
      @thedativecase9733 4 роки тому +8

      The press dubbed this the Night of the Long Knives as a reference to the Nazi purge. People at that time would have got the "joke".

    • @reggie18b
      @reggie18b 2 роки тому +3

      It seems quite common for this kind of appropriation to happen in British politics--'gang of four' is another example, first used about a faction in communist china but then take up to refer to the founders of the SDP.

  • @martm216
    @martm216 3 роки тому +2

    Interesting about Selwyn Lloyd's dog, a black labrador, being left behind at Chequers. Another dog, a golden labrador, was left behind at Chequers by Harold Wilson. Ted Heath had offered Harold and Mary the use of a Chequers on a temporary basis after the 1970 General Election after the Conservatives had unexpectedly defeated Labour. The dog often featured in film footage of Wilson, but when he left Chequers he also left the dog behind. I believe the dog was later reunited with Harold and Mary.

  • @janethollman7894
    @janethollman7894 Рік тому +1

    It’s amazing that he thought there were plots. Harold Wilson thought the same. They look like really old men even to me now, I’m 71. When they were in power I thought they were really really old. That only old men could run the country.

  • @grahamlait1969
    @grahamlait1969 5 років тому +4

    Ah yes, Selwyn Lloyd, a politician with strongly held convictions which he expressed forcefully... or in other words, a politician with the wrong ideas who raved about them.

  • @WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1
    @WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1 8 років тому +9

    '27 years ago'
    im guessing this was broadcast in 1989?

    • @thelastgreenelf
      @thelastgreenelf 8 років тому +7

      You guessed correctly. If you look at the end credits, at the very end, you can see the roman numerals for 1989 as the copyright for the program is listed.

    • @That_Random_Bloke
      @That_Random_Bloke 5 років тому +1

      Centrist Philosopher Thursday 27th of July at 7.30pm on BBC2

  • @Merlin-lc4zu
    @Merlin-lc4zu 4 роки тому +8

    He walked up and down our croquet lawn for 5 hours lol.They did then and still do today live in a different World to you,me and Dupree.Most would say a different planet i think.

    • @Gazzar
      @Gazzar 4 роки тому +1

      I was thinking same, and also when Aitken said that he'd been sent to negotiate a reduction in the rent because [Lloyd] "had no money, just his minsterial salary."

    • @scottrichardson1529
      @scottrichardson1529 4 роки тому +1

      True. But the saddest thing is labour are now further from us then the tories

  • @FurryAminal
    @FurryAminal 8 років тому +7

    I'd love to know the real story behind all this. Did mac lose the plot or did someone lean on him behind the scenes?

    • @quickerthanlight8735
      @quickerthanlight8735 5 років тому +3

      his son said he was pressured and forced.

    • @dreamdiction
      @dreamdiction 5 років тому

      The real story behind all this is explained in my four paragraph main comment.

    • @johnlawrence2757
      @johnlawrence2757 5 років тому +2

      FurryAminal I honestly doubt if he ever had the plot: Tory pms in those date inherited the role by right of birth. They didn’t need intelligence
      That all ended, of course, in 1970 when The Grocer took charge
      There’s a lot of Peter Cook on UA-cam at the moment: I wonder if anyone has got his impersonation of MacMillan ????

  • @brianhaskard1042
    @brianhaskard1042 Рік тому +1

    Aitken, butter wouldn't melt!

  • @Tyler_Kent
    @Tyler_Kent 9 років тому +15

    The older BBC documentaries especially about 20th century politicians are excellent. Luckily, Rab Butler's major place in history luckily never happened - right hand man to Halifax during surrender to Nazis.
    How about Jeremy Thorpe being called on? I'm sure he was thrilled to feel important again ...if only for a few minutes.
    The late 19th and 20th centuries in UK politics are really interesting. One of the only things Woodrow Wilson got right was his declaration that British form of govt is superior to US.

    • @AdmiralBlake
      @AdmiralBlake 9 років тому +4

      rab butler did play a major role in the 1944 education act, that's his place in history

    • @VincentRE79
      @VincentRE79 9 років тому +3

      J.S. Reilly Yes totally agree these documentaries are fascinating to watch. Politicians from that era all commanded respect unlike now.

    • @AdmiralBlake
      @AdmiralBlake 9 років тому +4

      ***** I suppose then 1. most politicians had served in one of the wars, and had a respect for ordinary people, which sadly went away during the thatcher-blair years, and 2. they didn't have to lie/spin to please the media

    • @VincentRE79
      @VincentRE79 9 років тому

      AdmiralBlake Times change and a politician like MacMillan would probably now be considered too posh and be ridiculed by the tabloid media.

    • @AdmiralBlake
      @AdmiralBlake 9 років тому +7

      ***** he's no posher than Cameron or Osbourne

  • @markmeade478
    @markmeade478 5 років тому +16

    Whether the British Empire was right or wrong in its ways is in many ways now seen as our past.
    All great empire's did land grabs, look at the Roman Empire which the British Empire is based on, they concured and took land along with those countries wealth, and many where enslaved, it's dose not make it right but the same mistakes where made in history.
    Yes Britain did take a lot of wealth, but remember only the top 1% had that wealth, in Britain there where many starving, undernourished, living in filthy slums while the rich had a damm fine life.
    Before the Great War 1914-18 many children starved to death because there was no well fare state, and the work house was only abolished in the early 1950s.
    So when people say this and that please read British history properly as living in Britain was no damm picnic.

    • @willdobson7351
      @willdobson7351 5 років тому +2

      The view of the 'great men in history' unfortunately still prevails.

    • @mootamoonta261
      @mootamoonta261 3 роки тому +3

      Many families living in poverty gave up the sons in the first world war.

  • @MARKETMAN6789
    @MARKETMAN6789 3 роки тому +2

    Harold had a better catch phase than Bruce Forsyth YOUVE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD

  • @jacklinks1854
    @jacklinks1854 6 років тому +6

    MACMILLAN was a man among Men .a Top Man....

    • @peterharwood1430
      @peterharwood1430 6 років тому +2

      Bullshit.You clearly did not know him.

    • @markharrison2544
      @markharrison2544 6 років тому +3

      Macmillan was a disaster who betrayed the UK.

    • @peterharwood1430
      @peterharwood1430 6 років тому +2

      Every prime minister has betrayed the UK.Classism rules and we have got used to it. the worst was Margaret Thatcher.

    • @rorojara001
      @rorojara001 5 років тому

      @@markharrison2544 Who the fuck are you to talk about Macmillan in that way?? What achievements and efforts you have??

    • @exeterbeekeeper
      @exeterbeekeeper 5 років тому +1

      He was a toff

  • @BK-uf6qr
    @BK-uf6qr Рік тому +1

    What a difference. Politics was for aged, experienced politicians. Today? Neophytes who have yet to learn the lessons of the world. So they learn on the job.

  • @PassiveAgressive319
    @PassiveAgressive319 Місяць тому

    This would make a great, ‘The Crown’ like series or film

  • @SiggiNebel
    @SiggiNebel 10 років тому +29

    Watching this makes me feel a bit nostalgic. Those British politicians who were in charge about 50 years ago, whatever they did and how dubious it may have been in detail, at least seem to have been still humans and not only politicians, unlike their later successors like Thatcher, Blair or Cameron.

    • @nibnob7
      @nibnob7 9 років тому +11

      Dont be fooled by appearances. It should be noted that Enoch Powell the notorious writer of the racist rivers of blood speech was one of those interviewed...

    • @MrPhilcoolio
      @MrPhilcoolio 9 років тому +7

      muffin 7
      he wasnt that far from the truth, no matter how distasteful one finds his remarks. the beheading of lee rigby springs to mind.

    • @nibnob7
      @nibnob7 9 років тому

      yes there have been attacks. But racism relies on the genealisation that all of them are bad,regardless of how few were involved in criminality. Enoch Powell condemned everyone, even people like these Muslims www.timesofisrael.com/1000-join-muslim-ring-of-peace-outside-oslo-synagogue/ p.s. you will notice that white people can cause equally brutally massacres, it only takes one gun.

    • @MrPhilcoolio
      @MrPhilcoolio 9 років тому +5

      i suggest you take a look at social attitude surveys carried out in the uk, you may find them quite enlightening.
      as we repeatedly see young people born, raised and educated in the uk, deciding to leave and join isis, dont be surprised when we see more attrocites carried out in the uk.
      your counter of some muslims in oslo is laughable. what was the muslim communities response to events in paris. Jews are leaving france in fear for their lives. luckily they have somewhere to run too. where will the english have to run to when they are driven out.

    • @nibnob7
      @nibnob7 9 років тому

      I don't understand this is the response you want. It is from human to human saying that they believe that the hatred between jews and muslims (that is more complicated than anyone can understand) can be overcome, no matter how patchwork it would seem and in the face of such a violent and emotive conflict. Furthermore the social attitude surveys you quote, i would suggest you inspect that of white british towards jews and muslims and you will find just as much hatred and violence contained in their words as from muslims to jews
      Lastly please don't dismiss my thoughts as "laughable", using ad hominem diminishes any line of thought as aggressive and unnecessary.

  • @geekpie100
    @geekpie100 3 роки тому +5

    today's BBC wouldn't dare to show such footage of Enoch Powell, despite him being so influential on a range of topics during the 60s and 70s.

  • @alainrogez8485
    @alainrogez8485 4 роки тому +3

    When I saw the title I thought it was about Germany... but no.

  • @francisbacon7738
    @francisbacon7738 5 років тому +2

    This is going to hurt me much more than it than its going to hurt you (old boy)

  • @jonathanbrown3771
    @jonathanbrown3771 7 років тому +6

    Let's not shed tears. The removal of politicians from office is an excellent tactic to keep aspirant politicians on their toes. McMillan was useless as well but at least saw the sport in his actions.

  • @juliarabbitts1595
    @juliarabbitts1595 2 роки тому +1

    Selwyn Lloyd left his dog behind at Chequers, and so did Harold Wilson; why would you not take your dog?

  • @barbaracrickley6191
    @barbaracrickley6191 5 років тому +4

    What a mean selfish thing for him to do leaving the poor dog behind, arsehole it wasn't the dogs fault he got the boot.

  • @veggie42
    @veggie42 8 років тому +14

    Thank goodness De Gaulle denied us EC entry over our closeness to America!! irony now it causes us much harm

    • @zeddeka
      @zeddeka 4 роки тому +2

      The American got their pound of flesh for all that. It's ironic that you talk about the EU causing us harm when the Americans absolutely screwed us over and dictated our foreign policy.

  • @akumar7366
    @akumar7366 4 роки тому +4

    Jonathan Aitkin could have been at least foreign secatary, no doubt a very charasmatic man.

  • @angloaust1575
    @angloaust1575 3 роки тому +1

    Was profumo involved
    Christine and mandy

  • @Omnishambles94
    @Omnishambles94 7 років тому +2

    What's that music that plays 2:16? I hear it all the time when stuff about the 1950s is on.

    • @brianrodney5202
      @brianrodney5202 7 років тому +7

      It is called ' In Party Mood ' composed by Jack Strachey and was used to introduce a BBC radio show called ' Housewives' Choice '.

    • @channelfogg6629
      @channelfogg6629 5 років тому +3

      It's the signature tune to 'Housewive's Choice', a record request programme that used to be on morning radio. The music is 'In Party Mood' by the West End Celebrity Orchestra, composed by Jack Strachey.
      ua-cam.com/video/qqsp413SXuQ/v-deo.html

    • @thedativecase9733
      @thedativecase9733 4 роки тому +2

      I think it was the theme tune to Housewives' Choice- a daytime radio show. Probably on the BBC Light Programme

  • @tedthesailor172
    @tedthesailor172 4 роки тому +5

    "His personal assistant was Johnathan Aitken, later to become a Tory MP..." And later to become a jailbird...!

    • @tedthesailor172
      @tedthesailor172 4 роки тому

      @roger james hunter Smart crims don't finish up in the slam...

  • @AndRewUK24
    @AndRewUK24 Рік тому +1

    If this is a history documentary it is a wrong title. I thought it would be a documentary about the 1934 Hitler's purge. I was absolutely wrong. I was reading the book about Appeasement by Tim bouveire and wanting to know about it because it didn't tell me in the chapter.
    Night of the long knives is the nickname for the 1934 Hitler purge.

    • @jpc2470
      @jpc2470 3 місяці тому +1

      MacMillan’s reshuffle was nicknamed that by the press in reference to the earlier event.

  • @lucianopavarotti2843
    @lucianopavarotti2843 2 місяці тому

    @28:55 Harold Wilson also abandoned his dog at Chequers, after losing the 1970 election

  • @ysgol3
    @ysgol3 5 років тому +5

    For some reason I find Macmillan hilarious.

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 5 років тому +2

      His wife was having an affair with Lord Boothby since 1930. Lord Boothby was bisexual and would screw anything that passed him by.

    • @ysgol3
      @ysgol3 5 років тому +4

      @@johnking5174 I do like this Macmillan story from the early 70s. An American presidential hopeful had cried on TV after newspaper reports that his wife was an alcoholic. Macmillan was asked how he would have reacted if someone had called lady Dorothy, his wife, an alcoholic too. Macmillan said ' I would have replied, 'you should have seen her mother''.

    • @zeddeka
      @zeddeka 4 роки тому +3

      He was noted for being very theatrical in his style, and very witty.

  • @charlesnelson5187
    @charlesnelson5187 2 роки тому +1

    5.50 Mac picks up a piece of wood and puts it on a fire that doesn't need it.

    • @andydixon2980
      @andydixon2980 2 роки тому +1

      Didn't even give the fire a poke either......a neglectful man.

  • @mykeywass
    @mykeywass 2 місяці тому +1

    They were all sozzled 24/7

  • @rorojara001
    @rorojara001 6 років тому +11

    Long live Harold Macmillan! Comeback prosperous 50s...

    • @zeddeka
      @zeddeka 4 роки тому +3

      They weren't as prosperous as you imagine. There were serious economic problems bubbling away underneath. The government in the UK masked them by borrowing huge amounts of money abroad to try and plug the holes, rather than address the core problems of the British economy. The whole thing came crashing to a halt from the end of the 50s onwards.

  • @graemeyetts3465
    @graemeyetts3465 2 місяці тому +1

    Aitken and Thorpe😮

  • @benmarshall4769
    @benmarshall4769 9 років тому +1

    What's the music that is playing at 2:20?

    • @oldelephantstew
      @oldelephantstew  9 років тому +7

      Ben Marshall Theme from the BBC radio programme "Housewives Choice" aka "In Party Mood" by the West End Celebrity Orchestra.

    • @brianrodney5202
      @brianrodney5202 7 років тому

      ' In Party Mood ' composed by Jack Strachey.

    • @channelfogg6629
      @channelfogg6629 5 років тому +1

      It's the signature tune to 'Housewive's Choice', a record request programme that used to be on morning radio. The music is 'In Party Mood' by the West End Celebrity Orchestra, composed by Jack Strachey.
      ua-cam.com/video/qqsp413SXuQ/v-deo.html

  • @johncourtneidge
    @johncourtneidge 4 місяці тому +1

    Damaged people, Tories.

  • @erpollock
    @erpollock Рік тому

    British politics were savage indeed.

  • @poodtang2104
    @poodtang2104 4 місяці тому

    7:21 Keep your friends close keep your enemies in your pocket.

  • @jennyhulme1942
    @jennyhulme1942 5 років тому +1

    So does anyone actually know why he did it?

  • @patrickt.4121
    @patrickt.4121 9 місяців тому +1

    Night of the long butter knives! 😁

  • @KazgarothUsher
    @KazgarothUsher 9 років тому +8

    Why didn't Selwyn take his dog with him :(

    • @johncronin9540
      @johncronin9540 6 років тому +3

      KazgarothUsher Since he had to downsize his accommodations, he likely couldn’t bring his dogs with him.

    • @wstevenson4913
      @wstevenson4913 5 років тому +2

      Sambo was a well known brand of chewing gum in the 60's ..@@calummackenzie1050

    • @uazgb
      @uazgb 5 років тому +1

      Calum MacKenzie
      I don’t think one can call one’s black Labrador ‘Sambo’ these days.

    • @davidbutler5526
      @davidbutler5526 5 років тому +2

      @@wstevenson4913 I am sure the dog was not named after chewing gum.

    • @wstevenson4913
      @wstevenson4913 5 років тому +2

      @@uazgb funny that....there's no sign of the chewing gum either these days.

  • @gregb6469
    @gregb6469 8 років тому +8

    Macmillan was obviously not in his right mind at that time.

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 7 років тому +2

      The balance of his mind was disturbed. He had become convinced that he was terminally ill, and it clouded his judgement.

    • @gregb6469
      @gregb6469 7 років тому +3

      bingola45 -- If he thought himself terminally ill, then he should have resigned, not fired key members of his cabinet.

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 7 років тому +1

      Greg B That would be a decision only he could make. Both he, and his government, were past their prime at this time.

    • @gregb6469
      @gregb6469 7 років тому +2

      bingola45 -- And yet he went on to live for another 20+ years, so his "terminal illness" turned out to be rather slow-acting!

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 7 років тому +2

      Greg B He wasn't terminally ill. He had become convinced that he was terminally ill.

  • @ScumfuckMcDoucheface
    @ScumfuckMcDoucheface 3 роки тому +1

    Oh... wow... I sure misunderstood this title. hahaha
    =/

  • @robertmaceanruig6291
    @robertmaceanruig6291 3 роки тому +1

    Was him, who said you British never so Good,,,,,..I was there

  • @jeffreyadams648
    @jeffreyadams648 5 років тому +4

    Sounds very contemporary.

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 4 роки тому +1

      Contemporary with...
      ...what?

  • @bradkennett5759
    @bradkennett5759 9 років тому +1

    I wish we had BBC-TV PBS is also nice

    • @jinnymudlark1815
      @jinnymudlark1815 5 років тому

      Perhaps not now - they're on the nose of a lot of people in the UK now.

  • @philipgreen6085
    @philipgreen6085 Рік тому +1

    Macmillans wife having an affair with lord boothby He was having an affair with one of the krays associates

  • @acohen1980
    @acohen1980 10 років тому +9

    Selwyn Lloyd is a fine man...a true democrat.....

  • @dirkadriaan6019
    @dirkadriaan6019 3 роки тому +1

    It should be: Die Nacht Der langer messer!

  • @claudrains7700
    @claudrains7700 7 років тому +2

    Seems ice seen this somehow on The Benny hill show ...

  • @clydebear6914
    @clydebear6914 Рік тому +1

    Jonathon Aitken.....jail bird.

  • @dariowiter3078
    @dariowiter3078 6 років тому +6

    There are times when a political leader, be they a prime minister or a president, must "cleanse" himself or herself of associates whose political usefulness has just drained itself out. This change in personnel often works, but at other times, it can be a disaster, as this documentary demonstrates quite clearly.

  • @drtreg
    @drtreg 3 роки тому +1

    The PM has to be a butcher and know the joints

  • @graemeyetts3465
    @graemeyetts3465 2 місяці тому +1

    I hope our Democrat friends in Washington may see this and reflect on Mr Biden.
    I make the suggestion around these two mens ages.
    No other comparison; Biden is a political midget next to MacMillan.
    Trump will win, and that's preferable IMO but that's a low bar of competence; how apt.

    • @mrmlpvideogerman
      @mrmlpvideogerman Місяць тому +1

      Unfortunately, the comparison doesn't quite fit. MacMillan was under 70 when he retired.

  • @markjabroni7795
    @markjabroni7795 5 років тому +5

    I wonder what kind of reaction a cabinet minister would get today if he had a dog named Sambo.

    • @petermills542
      @petermills542 5 років тому +2

      @@davidkent8606. I think we had the same book in our 'book cupboard ' as kids . A little black boy had stolen something & was 'chased round & round a tree by a Tiger until he turned into butter !! ' I'd forgotten the pancakes though I'm fairly sure it was called ' Little Black Sambo' ! I remember my elder brothers & sister finding it a very strange tale too !

    • @phillipecook3227
      @phillipecook3227 5 років тому +3

      Ever heard of the Dambusters Squadron? Wait till you find out the name of Guy Gibson's dog.

    • @barbaracrickley6191
      @barbaracrickley6191 5 років тому +1

      @@phillipecook3227 , it was the N word.

    • @phillipecook3227
      @phillipecook3227 5 років тому +1

      @@barbaracrickley6191 yes I know.

  • @jacklinks1854
    @jacklinks1854 6 років тому +2

    Absolutley rediculoouse..Macmillan was true maybe given to scotch....but it was a Lark...but ok n reality the greatest Prime minister this side o c ww2 and I think most woul d agree...Very personable and efficient....?

  • @waynusp1664
    @waynusp1664 7 років тому +1

    Sod history,This is basically exactly what has been dont to Assad in Syria!
    And on another topic what about 101 miles of level water...impossible on a globe earth, there should be 1666 feet of elevation over that distance.....Just saying!

  • @paullangton-rogers2390
    @paullangton-rogers2390 4 роки тому +2

    There as a fascinating drama based on this episode in British history from the novel 'A Very British Coup' which has the story plot of a Prime Minister coming to power who is very left-wing and close to Russia, which creates a great deal of mistrust of the UK by the US, and mistrust from our own secret service agencies MI5 and MI6 who agree with US he has to go. So together with the CIA, they hatch a plan to get rid of this Prime Minister using all available means to undermine him. The Prime Minister's character was based loosely on long time Labour socialist MP Tony Benn.

    • @mattharvey4770
      @mattharvey4770 4 роки тому +4

      Paul and Ancila That’s actually based on reported MI5 plots against another PM, Harold Wilson.

    • @lucianlawson-foley5967
      @lucianlawson-foley5967 4 роки тому +1

      @@mattharvey4770 Yes. There were some who suspected he was a KGB agent. MI5 kept a file on him

  • @marcamerine8138
    @marcamerine8138 5 років тому +3

    miss leading headlines..night of long knifes wasnt that Hitler killing the leaders of The SA Storm Troopers..?????

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 5 років тому +1

      The term is used to convey being stabbed in the back by Harold Macmillan, as he sacked members of his cabinet who thought they were loyal to Macmillan, and were in fact stabbed in the back by their own Prime Minister, hence the use of the phrase.

    • @zeddeka
      @zeddeka 4 роки тому +4

      Yes you're right, but it was borrowed for this occasion as a way to describe how Macmillan had politically killed many of his colleagues.

  • @terrencepeterritchie3632
    @terrencepeterritchie3632 5 років тому +2

    I always thought that Macmillan was the 6th man and the ultimate thrust of Spycatcher is that he was but penultimately it didn't end there.

    • @reggie18b
      @reggie18b 2 роки тому

      Eh? I've not read the book, but I remember it's controversial publication. What are you saying--that Macmillan was a communist spy like Philby and the rest?

  • @iannonhebel677
    @iannonhebel677 4 роки тому +4

    This rambles on v boring does not get to the point - all these rambling interviews. Mcmillan hand-picked many of the resonant figures who would shape the future of the Conservative Party, while for the most part he had sacked a collection of deadbeats and non-entities.This was the new generation - Reggie Maudling, Keith Joseph, Peter Thorneycroft - average age just 50, compared to the average of 59 for the seven departed cabinet ministers," said Oborne.Image caption Selwyn Lloyd was brought back into government in 1963 by new Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home. Macmillan was trying to demonstrate the Conservatives were capable of grasping modernity which is why he wanted to bring in some of these younger people,

  • @janethollman7894
    @janethollman7894 Рік тому

    Can you imagine what they would think of today’s government. Enoch Powell would be rocked to his core lol. I was only ten when this happened and couldn’t have cared less. But I do remember everyone, well adults talking about Labour. I also remember everyone glued to radio or television about the downfall of the Government and the General Election that followed.

  • @neponsetriver
    @neponsetriver 5 років тому +3

    I thought initially this was about the Nazi bloodbath.

    • @jackpavlik563
      @jackpavlik563 4 роки тому

      Neponset River curious reuse of the term.

  • @catherineoconnell3213
    @catherineoconnell3213 5 років тому

    Dogs life.......

  • @hirundine44
    @hirundine44 5 років тому +1

    They all went quietly because they knew of the plums that were waiting.... c'mon. Yes the tories were tired, straight into John Profumo and that Ward creature ...

  • @peterfarrelly483
    @peterfarrelly483 4 роки тому

    Joh Bejelki peterson

  • @xposethatruth1682
    @xposethatruth1682 2 роки тому

    This isn’t the night of the long knives…wtf?

  • @frederickmiles327
    @frederickmiles327 6 років тому

    A '
    good introductory look' at many prominent Conservative politicians of the era including many of those who held the position of Chancellor, Minister of Defence and civilian sea lord. You see the dangerous, brilliant edge of Enoch in 62 at his greatest, but not possible in high office ever for long

  • @ian_b
    @ian_b 4 роки тому +2

    7:50 Open necked shirts? Together? Shocking! Were they gay for each other?!

  • @lucasevamy
    @lucasevamy 4 роки тому +2

    who knew enoch powell was such a drama queen

    • @scottrichardson1529
      @scottrichardson1529 4 роки тому +2

      Who knew enoch Powell would be proved right

    • @lucasevamy
      @lucasevamy 4 роки тому +1

      @@scottrichardson1529 pull the other one its get bells on it

    • @scottrichardson1529
      @scottrichardson1529 4 роки тому +1

      @@lucasevamy fuck me,do you live under a rock???

    • @lucasevamy
      @lucasevamy 4 роки тому +1

      @@scottrichardson1529 no i live in the UK, where tories make black and white working people fight each other so they can get away with gutting the place

    • @bmotion7648
      @bmotion7648 4 роки тому +3

      It's the left behind the white priveledge false narrative. Not Tories!

  • @aqueenslander
    @aqueenslander 3 роки тому +1

    What a bunch of old fogeys....no wonder the country was in a mess. Enoch was the only bright spark among them and was later proved correct. Glad I left that lot behind 50 years ago.......
    Queensland Australia

  • @anth5122
    @anth5122 4 роки тому +1

    Enoch, you would not believe what this country has become

    • @davidhoward437
      @davidhoward437 4 роки тому +2

      Boris Johnson as PM... Complete insanity!

    • @andydixon2980
      @andydixon2980 2 роки тому +1

      I think he would believe, as he predicted.

  • @10wanderer
    @10wanderer 4 роки тому

    Macmiilan eh the kind of Tory that thankfully has long gone, well nearly, better that Boris is here to show the better side !

  • @MARKETMAN6789
    @MARKETMAN6789 3 роки тому +1

    This is a time when a member of parliament could ride in an open top car without fear of being shot or knived of blown up from an illegal immigrant

    • @oldelephantstew
      @oldelephantstew  3 роки тому +2

      You're right - when I first went to London in the 1960s, Downing Street was an ordinary street that anyone could walk into instead of the fortified compound that it is now. What can't speak can't lie and those iron gates and railings bear witness to how much our society had changed for the worse in these last 50 years.

  • @stijnvandamme76
    @stijnvandamme76 3 роки тому +1

    The night of the long knives is the Nazi purge by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934.
    why da fak is this video titled as such

    • @freebornjohn2687
      @freebornjohn2687 3 роки тому +5

      Because that's how the press reported it at the time.

  • @olyokie
    @olyokie 5 років тому

    F all these Lords, Sirs, Ladies etc. I am an American and have zero use or tolerance for a bunch of inbreds you deem "royal". Sorry but their priggish ways......damn

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 5 років тому +3

      The term "royal" is only applied to the monarch and their immediate family. Anyone who has the title of Sir, Duke, Earl or whatever are not royal.

    • @olyokie
      @olyokie 5 років тому

      @@johnking5174 Fuck Them All.....they are dregs of history and nothing else....

    • @TheEtruscanhorse
      @TheEtruscanhorse 5 років тому

      @Greg Moore
      Do you get all your information from a picture book?

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 5 років тому

      @@TheEtruscanhorse Me?

    • @TheEtruscanhorse
      @TheEtruscanhorse 5 років тому

      @@johnking5174 No.