Christopher Lee

To tie in with the release of This Sceptred Isle: The Dynasties, we interviewed Christopher Lee, the creator and writer of the award-winning radio history of Britain.

BBC Spoken Word: In a nutshell, what is the focus of The Dynasties, and how does it further This Sceptred Isle?

Christopher Lee: The Dynasties is about the most powerful families in the British Isles in the past thousand years. These are the families who have been the powers behind the throne – and, in some cases, the usurpers of that power and throne. The dynasties are families who have outlived royal houses. For example, which royal family has a history of, say, 800 years and is still going? Answer: not one. But the families in this book have often been influential for that length of time. These are the king makers, the king killers and the real ruling classes of the British Isles and, until recently, Ireland.

SW: Can you give us an example of a long-established family which still exerts power in Britain today?

CL: The Cecils have had an enormous influence since, famously, William Cecil became Elizabeth the First's most trusted adviser. It was Robert Cecil who served Elizabeth at her deathbed and then arranged for the peaceful transition of the British throne to James VI of Scotland, to become James I of England. The Cecils became the Salisburys. Lord Salisbury was the last Prime Minister to sit in the House of Lords. Viscount Cranbourne, very much a Cecil, was the man who arranged with Tony Blair the new style of the modern House of Lords, until he was sacked by William Hague. Another example might be the Norfolks, a dynasty even older than the Cecils, who for close on 800 years have influenced public life, and the present Duke of Norfolk is the Earl Marshal of All England.

Historian Christopher Lee

SW: Volume Five of the cassettes talks about 'the new dynasties'. Who are these people?

CL: Perhaps because the way in which the monarchy has been stripped of all power that means anything, the dynasties have lost their focus of power. Some, like the Carringtons, influenced monarchs and governments from the end of the eighteenth century until the present time. The sixth baron Carrington was the last Cabinet minister to resign on a point of honour and principle (over the Falklands War). But the new dynasties are really those who influence government and become power brokers almost by remote control. For example, the media barons have enormous influence. But it is very transitory. The new dynasties will not survive long. None will survive for centuries – mainly because power itself has shifted.

SW: Since This Sceptred Isle began there have been a number of successful history series on television, including A History of Britain. How do you feel they compare with This Sceptred Isle?

CL: I am not sure they can be compared. This Sceptred Isle started the media rush for history programmes and, considering that This Sceptred Isle: The Twentieth Century is to be repeated on Radio 4 shortly and run for another year, it was clearly a good idea. The television series suffer from the fears of producers to allow someone to simply tell the story. They have to be dramatised or have presenters getting in the way of the story. Also, television histories are not portable!

This Sceptred Isle has a huge advantage because it was never made to cater for low attention spans (clearly the TV case). It had an even greater advantage of being brilliantly read by Anna Massey, intelligently directed by Pete Atkin – whose record as a radio drama and light entertainment producer is second to none – and has so-called portability. It can be listened to in the car, in the gym, out walking, in bed sleeping (I'm told many sixth formers do this because it sinks into their subconscious – good for A-level study) and almost anywhere else. It also has the advantage over TV in that it is very simply explained. One national newspaper reviewer, for example, said she watched A History of Britain and then reached for This Sceptred Isle to find out what it was all about.

SW: You've recently published a quite different book. Could you tell us a little about it?

CL: It is called Eight Bells & Top Masts. It is about the life of a deck boy on an old cargo ship in the late 1950s. He goes to sea having been taught that Britain owns the world. As he sails that world from port to port, he sees that what he has been taught is pure nostalgia. The empire is crumbling. But most of all, the story is seen through that deck boy's eyes and diaries he kept at the time. It is his growing up, a sort of Cider With Rosie at sea. It is autobiographical.

SW: Are you writing anything else for radio at the moment?

CL: Yes, something quite different. A new comedy series, Our Brave Boys for Radio 4. It's sort of Yes, Minister in uniform. The first four are going out weekly in the Tuesday 6.30pm comedy slot starting on February 5. I am working with Martin Jarvis and Fiona Shaw, who star in the series. The next series goes out later this year. I am also writing a new detective trilogy, Guscott, which is a follow up to the Bath Detective series of books I did a couple of years back. Then it's back to history: 1603, the history of that year, then Trafalgar, the history of that battle. I would then like a day off!

Volumes One and Two of The Dynasties were published in February 2002 followed in March by Three and Four. The final volume and a boxed set will be released in April 2002. Available on cassette and CDs.

Interview conducted by
Michael Stevens in January 2002.
With thanks to Rosie Whittam.