New Challenges UK 1964-1997

For the Forum’s meeting on the 22nd of January the guest speaker was David Davies.

In a very varied career David had, among other things,served in the Army, worked as an engineer and as a manager for RollsRoyce and lectured in business management.

His talk was titled New Challenges UK 1964-1997 and was a comprehensive political history of the UK between the years mentioned.

His talk began with the death of Winston Churchill which he classed as the closure of a chapter of British history. We then entered the era of Wilson Labour and Heath Conservative governments which included industrial unrest resulting in the three-day week, the Grosvenor Square riots against American involvement in Vietnam and produced notable celebrities such as Germaine Greer and Arthur Scargill.

David included his analysis of the performance of British industry with respect to labour relations and management performance. After Callaghan had a short spell as Prime Minister, in 1979 we entered the Margaret Thatcher era which lasted till 1990 and included problems with the car manufacturer British Leyland and a number of violent incidents connected with terrorism.

Particularly well-remembered is the Falklands war.

David’s last subject was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the various personalities involved.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked David Davies for a fascinating talk and complimented him on delivering it without notes.