I went there yesterday - I am a frequent visitor to Salisbury Cathedral but it was my first visit to Arundells. I found it an absorbing visit and I will surely return. At 51 I am far to young to remember him as PM but plenty old enough to remember the man - I always thought of him as a decent, kindly man and I am glad my impressions seem to be right.
Good documentary - found it quite painful when Ted was pressed about that lady whom he didn't marry, and when he looked close to tears talking about his mother's death.
@@butterflymoon6368 The man who made up that claim, Carl Beech, was a fantasist who was sent to prison in 2019 for 18 years for spreading these false stories.
Interesting to see that Denis Healey speaks of Heath with obvious warmth and respect. Healey could have and maybe should have been PM and was a leading figure in the Labour Party for years. I don’t think that Heath was a great PM by any means but I have no doubt that he was well intentioned and a talented man in many ways. Thanks for making this available it’s worth watching although it’s a pity that so much of the programme was taken up with probing into Heath’s private life. His political career is much more interesting. Northern Ireland doesn’t even merit a mention it seems.
With Healey, I would imagine that 60 years of knowing and working with someone (at least sharing a workplace) would generate degree of friendliness. That said, it is a bit depressing to watch old politicians show that at one point, at least, it was possible to be civil with one another, even if they disagreed quite strongly.
Certainly very talented as a musician. He did not wish to discuss his private life because almost certainly - there wasn't one! He was socially awkward and stunted, quite an introvert and did not possess social or flirting skills. If anything, he was sexually innocent, virginal even.
Fascinating documentary as usual by Cockerell. I always find it especially interesting when they show the subject videos of their old speeches or interviews with others to get their reactions, when we see whether they're guarded or defensive, or bring out the knives (see: Cockerell's shows on Michael Foot and Roy Jenkins, when he shows both men videos of David Owen).
12:55 I have actually visited there in Nuremburg, it isn't exactly signposted so it is a bit difficult to get to. There is a gigantic classical building that the Nazis used as a hall, you walked past that through what is now a parking lot for lorries under arches that were part of the parade ground during the rallied. When I went there was heavy snow so I was probably risking breaking my neck. The front of it was as I remember converted into football pitches, and the podium where Hitler gave his speeches was covered in Polish graffiti. I was completely alone given the inclement weather, and there was something extremely strange about the idea of standing in exactly the same place Hitler had given speeches at 70 years before.
I never really realised just what a sweet and very sensitive man he was. So nice to see someone who just made a point of doing the right thing, that's true breeding. Rare to find many with those qualities nowadays.
+Lucia Tilyard “Sweet” is not the word I would use. To me, in this film, in which I think is very evenly treated, he comes across above all as defensive. He may have been a sensitive man, indeed I suspect he was, but in a long life it seems he never overcame his vulnerabilities. Certainly he was complex and that made him an interesting man - not particularly likeable but with a certain fascination.
Jug Jugette Well that's how I saw him in the past, but looking at this, I see some previously unnoticed (by me) dimensions. I never noticed that he had a rather good sense of humour before, but it seems to be in abundance here, it may be just that I've changed, and, yes vulnerable, but as a result, rather sensitive too, and not only to himself, but for others too.
Quite agree - I am not a Conservative voter, but have great respect and affection for Ted Heath. As this documentary suggests, politics was perhaps a strange choice for him as he was something of an introvert and a loner, not a glad-handing type who liked to be among people a lot. Not a great communicator either, although ironically he became a much better speaker after he lost the premiership and the leadership of his party, was able at last to relax and give reign to his personality. He was a man of great integrity and honesty. He was also a very unlucky prime minister. Events conspired in the cruelest way against him. As you say, there seems to have been a sweetness and sensitivity about him that the public rarely got to see. If you are interested I can recommend John Campbell's excellent biography.
It's amazing how much easier digital ones are compared to full mechanical pipe organs. When my last post's building has to have a major refurb, I persuaded the Elders to pay for Harrisons to come in, completely strip out my beautiful 3 manual 60 voice Father Willis, fully renovated everything and reinstall again after the building work was complete (I had a Bechstein upright piano in the interim 👿). I am sure you will agree Paul, church leadership really needs to realize that these instruments are the most valuable piece in most churches (often even more than the value of the actual building in many cases) but they usually do not care. For example, when they fully deep cleaned out every pipe, case, damper box and case, they emptied 1/4 metric TONNE of dust just from the Great rank (Hauptwerk), which shocked the Elders, almost as much as the bill did the Treasurer hee hee. Needless to say, after it was restored and back in place (it took 5 months by the way), the hilt plated pipes re-golded looked stunning, but the sound and movement was as good and so much purer than it had ever sounded, other than the day it was originally commissioned in 1875. Better still, and I had not actually realized because the piano had always been tuned to match the organ, it was a tone and a half flat!!!! Glad your transition did not incur that much effort and expense (and, as for your neighbours, if they do not appreciate living next door to one of the world's finest young maestros, set the penguins on them!!!)
Thanks for uploading this excellent BBC documentary. Whatever one's politics, isn't it good to see the respect that politicians of Heath's and Healey's day had for another, across the party divide? Unlike the tawdry rabble that we have today, God help us.
This presenter is intrusive to the point of rudeness...Ted Heath's private is his own business ....whoever in this comments compares Ted Heath is the epitome of an officer & a gentleman and that toerag jimmy savile represented everything that was vulgar, cheap, tawdry and vile.
Excellent comment. Heath was indeed very private,....yes he was socially awkward and ill at ease at social interaction, socialising or flirting. If anything, I suspect he was sexually innocent, still virginal. He had no feelings of love for those two ladies featured and I suspect he would have been clueless as to what to do with them had he been in a sexual situation with them. More likely he had gay feelings but was unable to get close to anyone let alone express them or get involved with anyone. Seemed to be no obvious salacious gossip about past affairs or flings even back to his teenage years. .
One of the few deeply personal political biographies and some moments particularly when asked about the lady he never had the chance to marry the sorrow came almost instantly across his face.
He was a pompous,cold individual who could not be 'folksy ' to any extent. A closet homosexual who some have said had an interest in young boys, although this was just a rumour. Malcolm Muggerage alluded to this in an interview with Bill Buckley.
Just after Cockerell says "The Union is proud of having produced five Prime Ministers..." the foreshadowing! (This documentary was made in 1998, when Johnson was a Telegraph columnist, before he even entered Parliament)
5:47 - "I doubt if he has ever had a ball in his hand in his life" - I am tempted to make a rude comment on this remark, I won't. I will just leave it here.
@@johnnyp2898 Perhaps where you were cobbled together, that passes for humour. You're too stupid to understand, return to your puddle and grunt there, happy in your ignorance. Hope that helps. 🙂
TUFTON BEAMISH!?!? Yes! “And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy."
Heath was a nicer person then Thatcher. In the end Thatcher was knifed in the same way she knifed Heath. Excellent video. Cockerell asked all the tricky questions in a respectful way.
Maggie deposed in a coup d'etat when she was at the peak of her powers. Her assassins then brought us the ERM fiasco and 15% interest rates on Black Wednesday....and a bitter, crippling recession. Then topped it off with the 1992 Maastricht Treaty debacle when a formerly free trade, common market was converted into political and federal union with Europe, the disastrous EU and ''ever closer union''.....and not a word of consultation with the electorate.
He is a Thanet boy like myself, and he was MP for Bexley where I lived for years...used to see him in the old Beefeater a lot...with his pasty lookin "carer" feedin him!
Yes, he was president of the Oxford Union also in the 80's, becoming the 6th former president to be Prime Minister and the first since Ted Heath. One can see William Hague (opposition leader 1997-2001), Michael Heseltine and Gyles Brandreth there also.
Maybe Ted's father should have let him pursue music as a career. In that world he could have been OPENLY gay. All his talents -- outside of politics -- would have made him a much happier man.
He would have been better suited to a career in music, he was a failure as a politician.... came up with all the wrong solutions,..not least on the EEC fiasco.
Wonderful documdntary where the subject is focal and we hardly if ever see the interviewer. The BBC do not make such excellent films anymore because the ego of the current interviewers and journalists is indulged, they set out to catch and condemn their subject these days opposed to remaining impartial so the viewer can raise their own conclusion
Vermilion is a simpleminded fool who believes in the bogeyman--this is all hearsay and innuendo about Heath--people like you were ready to burn the witches at Salem--your mind has evolved since the 1600s--use it !! Don't be ignorant your whole life !
Because Heath was above such rubbish reported by Murdock's rag tabloids..Savile was a different case- a lot of his victims stories were collaborated with witnesses and his working peers--as far as Heath raping and killing children--totally outlandish..
***** Being publically accused is not evidence. Copernicus was publically accused by the church of lying about the positioning of the sun and the earth and, of course he was proved to be right.
Of course there are malicious rumours. The press has always been homophobic in this country. Anyone who doesn't marry must be gay and someone's gay then it stands to reason that they molest young boys! 🤦🏻
Strangely enough Nixon and Heath did not have a close working partnership, more due to Heath than Nixon. Strange, because in terms of background, personality and their style of policy they shared quite a lot. www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/world-history/when-heath-met-nixon this report of their discussion is quite eye-opening after all these years.
Whatever the case may have been,..and his reputation has certainly suffered a right old flaying ( as is usually the case, with the subject being safely dead & rendered mute ),…he certainly didn’t stumble into anything remotely akin to the disastrous stuff-up that Thorpe snared himself in.
I'm a die hard Corbyn supporting socialist, but I really respect and like Heath, for a couple of reasons. 1) he's a WW2 veteran, so he fought to fight fascism. 2) he was a political moderate, he didn't want to crush all of labour, he didn't want to anhilate all nationalised industries. He was genuinely terrified about the social unrest that would be caused if he just guillotined a whole section of British civil society (I.e, the trade union movement) and was part of a generation who saw the horrors of the 30s and just took the post-war settlement as granted, which shows he was a man of moral sanity and principle, unlike that psychopath wrecker and ideological fanatic Thatcher, whose goal from day one was to wholehearted obliteration of working class power and the tyrannical domination of capitalism. 3) he was a committed anti-racist, getting rid of Powell almost immediately (he'd probably be made leader based on the current collection of filthy, crooked, hard right imbeciles and shit stirrers sat on the front bench today) 4) he was a foreign policy moderate, rightly contemptuous of Britain's Stockholm syndrome relationship to America and trying to make us more a part of Europe, recognising the empire was utterly dead and trying to reorient our role in the 20th century (again, in contrast to the deluded self pitying fantasies of the Brexiteering scum). He was also against most if not all of Britain's later foreign policy adventures, from the Gulf War onwards, proffering diplomacy or simply non interference. 5) he was contemptuous of spin. He hated bullshit. He hated gimmicks. He could see that Wilson in particular had turned politics into a worthless kabooki theatre, devoid of substance or genuine political disagreement, a trend that reached its apogee in the Campbell run media circus show that Blair ran, which became utterly calamitous during the run up to the Rape of Iraq, 6) he was talented, classically trained, a skilled pianist, and had a genuine artistic temperament. A skilled man. Heath really, like Major, was just too sincere for politics, too genuinely honest, too genuinely principled. They had no conception of how to actually play politics, which destroyed them both, despite if 97% of the time they were right on policy and morality. He, like Macmilliam before him, was a species of actually admirable and morally sane Tory, before the fucking Thatcherite vermin infested it. He was, ironically, the last social democratic prime minister we had. Sad.
Sadly one of the reasons Thatcher succeeded was because Heath failed against the wrecking selfishness of the powerful trade unions, who not only betrayed the people they were supposed to be representing but also the country. If you want a reason for Thatcher and her ilk look to the cretins in the Labour movement both then and now. Corbyn is an utter moron.
So, how are you enjoying the slow collapse of the EU now and it’s dedication to destroying Germany and Ukraine and turning all the EU countries over to the unelected tyrannical WEF????waiting for an answer.
I am completely with you. What would he make of the election of Johnson or that one after him? I just read he was cremated, so the Salisbury is alright, otherwise he would be spinning in his grave with anger.
at 24 and 25 mins in, in the chief whip interview, he reminded me of the HOUSE OF CARDS, PM URQUHART. calculation, manipulation and cold mechanics. a rather dreary lot.
So much of the exclamation in his public speaking while in office wreaks of his equally tragic contemporary Richard Nixon. “Do the job;” “finish the job;” … that sort of rhetoric. I honestly wonder who stole this tactic from whom, or if it was mere coincidence.
i hear a lot of shit about that in regard to political figures on here..i want to say that it seems unlikely..but it's kinda hard to say..on the one hand a lot of government institutions are corporations with the legal authority to commit crimes for profit and to influence the political offices of political figures, and it is illegal for corporations to not maximize profit for the shareholders, so it is technically illegal for them to not act on that for profit..but not to exploit it
A sad documentary... We are so obsessed with party ideology that we forget that politicians are after only human. I admire him for living a public life in spite of all the whispers... I wonder what he would have thought of Brexit.
Horrified I would think. And I really do believe that Thatcher would have been as well. She campaigned to remain in the 1975 referrendum and although she was not in favour of the EU's growing power she knew which side her bread was buttered on.
Many comments here about Heath's sexuality but few seem to realise that during the post-war years, sex itself was a taboo subject not least the subject of homosexuality for which an overwhelming majority felt nothing but disgust and revulsion. By the time I left secondary school in 1976, sex education hardly existed,..your parents never spoke about it, these stigmas continued for many years. If there was gossip that a politician was a queer, he was finished,..these matters were confined to the closet, never ever mentioned. It was often the case that gay men actually met and married females and raised a family...not least to conform with the expectations of society. This deceit was necessary as it looked suspicious if a man was not married by the time he was aged 25, certainly 30. Of course, this deceit would come to light years later when the gay husband would admit the truth,..leaving behind a devastated wife.
I am a brexiteer with a soft spot for Heath. I think he had the right motives (no war etc) but his arrogance distanced him from his powerbase which led to his downfall. I totally believe we were wrong to join the eec and that Heath paid far too high a price for joining. He was desperate. But I believe henwas a v decent human being who fought for what he believed was right. I also respect his courage as a soldier.
This comment I love. It's again going from the base that everyone is doing their best, and that their intentions are there for making thing better. I miss this a lot. Other way round I really get you wanting out of the EU. Getting a big part of your sovereignty back I really get! But is it worth the downsides? While the most rules and regulations are almost the same than you would enact in the UK, and the rest is for the good peace. And (we in the Netherlands do this also) while water down the input in the EU-parliament by choosing protest-party's, which were only there to get their daily allowance.
Yes, he saw the EEC as a silver bullet to pull us out of the stagnant socialism adopted and followed from 1945. It was a Franco/German stitch-up to asset strip the UK, he signed us up to the cash guzzling and utterly fraudulent CAP and CFP, the latter which handed the UK fishing industry to the French. By 1979, fishing ports such as Aberdeen, Grimsby and Hull had been decimated.
or..citizens are government property which would be illegal to not be used as merchandise beyond the point that it interferes with the operations to the extent of losing revenue
a fascinating and absorbing documentary. Heath should have carved a career in music and not politics to which he was obviously ill-suited. He had no vision or political principles and was hapless against trade union tyranny. Lied to the people when he took us into the EEC knowing all along that it would lead to a political and federal union with Europe, effectively the EUSSR. EEC was a trojan horse. b
I wonder if anyone ever knew of the blockades against free trade by Britain against Germany before WWI and the subsequent such attacks that similarly caused WWII.
At least Major, technically, won a reelection, and he did preside over a period of economic expansion, but he had less of an impact of foreign affairs than Heath.
Ultimately asexual but I think he was a closet gay. I'm certain he never met anyone because he was soicially awkward and seemed to have a frosty demeanour. Not for a minute was he in love with those two ladies and I doubt very much he would know what to do with them even if he was naked with them in bed.
Heath has to be have been one of the coldest and automaton Prime Minister this country ever had. Even Thatcher had some warmth and charm to her. Heath had no charm, just ice water in his veins and a swinging brick for a heart.
Lovely documentary quite sad to watch at times, not a Tory myself but neither am I a tribalist, I can see his qualities decency, honour, integrity, principles duty, in that era many had those qualities, sadly the same can’t be said today
Very much maligned regarding his personal life. I think he was socially awkward and preferred his own company. Poor social skills. If anything, he was a solitary man.
"A shiver looking for a spine to run up." What a brilliant quote from Harold Wilson.
We visited Arundells yesterday. The staff seemingly mostly knew him in life and spoke of his kindness and commitment to peace and internationalism.
I went there yesterday - I am a frequent visitor to Salisbury Cathedral but it was my first visit to Arundells. I found it an absorbing visit and I will surely return. At 51 I am far to young to remember him as PM but plenty old enough to remember the man - I always thought of him as a decent, kindly man and I am glad my impressions seem to be right.
Good documentary - found it quite painful when Ted was pressed about that lady whom he didn't marry, and when he looked close to tears talking about his mother's death.
Read about Mike Taragga he says abused by this scumbag!
Dirty sympathizer
It's because he was into boys not women.
@@butterflymoon6368 The man who made up that claim, Carl Beech, was a fantasist who was sent to prison in 2019 for 18 years for spreading these false stories.
@@butterflymoon6368Didn't make him a bad person. 😄
the BBC documentaries are just amazing, such a rich historical resource
Totally agree. Honestly the Blair years for the BBC were incredible. Not Blair lol just the documentaries during his tenure
They used to be. Now it feels like a lecture from a left wing college - dumbed down, populist and always skewed.
@@Matt_McGlone bore off brexit Jimmy
@@guitarreilly he's another human just like you.
@@contentsniffer brexiteers aren't human. They are trolls from a fantasy realm that despise facts and figures
That comment about music being a form of love, and being in love, was oddly beautiful coming from a man like Heath
You mean a Pedophilie like Heath
Beautiful coming from anyone....
Interesting to see that Denis Healey speaks of Heath with obvious warmth and respect. Healey could have and maybe should have been PM and was a leading figure in the Labour Party for years. I don’t think that Heath was a great PM by any means but I have no doubt that he was well intentioned and a talented man in many ways. Thanks for making this available it’s worth watching although it’s a pity that so much of the programme was taken up with probing into Heath’s private life. His political career is much more interesting. Northern Ireland doesn’t even merit a mention it seems.
With Healey, I would imagine that 60 years of knowing and working with someone (at least sharing a workplace) would generate degree of friendliness. That said, it is a bit depressing to watch old politicians show that at one point, at least, it was possible to be civil with one another, even if they disagreed quite strongly.
Certainly very talented as a musician.
He did not wish to discuss his private life because almost certainly - there wasn't one!
He was socially awkward and stunted, quite an introvert and did not possess social
or flirting skills. If anything, he was sexually innocent, virginal even.
@@lennylaa1686 so no belief in heaths abduction rape and then murder of numerous young boys accusations even by senior police ?
Wild seeing Boris Johnson in the corner of the clip around 13:52
At 9. 04 , his mate says that' ''he spoke with a cockney accent '', well if that's cockney , then I'm from Uganda
His mate is simply even more of a snob than Heath!
Sort of funny until I wonder why you mentioned Uganda? Do you think you're more posh or civilised than Ugandan people?
Fascinating documentary as usual by Cockerell. I always find it especially interesting when they show the subject videos of their old speeches or interviews with others to get their reactions, when we see whether they're guarded or defensive, or bring out the knives (see: Cockerell's shows on Michael Foot and Roy Jenkins, when he shows both men videos of David Owen).
12:55 I have actually visited there in Nuremburg, it isn't exactly signposted so it is a bit difficult to get to. There is a gigantic classical building that the Nazis used as a hall, you walked past that through what is now a parking lot for lorries under arches that were part of the parade ground during the rallied. When I went there was heavy snow so I was probably risking breaking my neck. The front of it was as I remember converted into football pitches, and the podium where Hitler gave his speeches was covered in Polish graffiti. I was completely alone given the inclement weather, and there was something extremely strange about the idea of standing in exactly the same place Hitler had given speeches at 70 years before.
Excellent, thanks for this. Any other documentaries on British politicians would be wonderful
I never really realised just what a sweet and very sensitive man he was. So nice to see someone who just made a point of doing the right thing, that's true breeding. Rare to find many with those qualities nowadays.
+Lucia Tilyard “Sweet” is not the word I would use. To me, in this film, in which I think is very evenly treated, he comes across above all as defensive. He may have been a sensitive man, indeed I suspect he was, but in a long life it seems he never overcame his vulnerabilities. Certainly he was complex and that made him an interesting man - not particularly likeable but with a certain fascination.
Jug Jugette Well that's how I saw him in the past, but looking at this, I see some previously unnoticed (by me) dimensions. I never noticed that he had a rather good sense of humour before, but it seems to be in abundance here, it may be just that I've changed, and, yes vulnerable, but as a result, rather sensitive too, and not only to himself, but for others too.
I think this doc illustrates how totally un-suited he was to be PM!
History has judged him correctly- as a poor PM
Quite agree - I am not a Conservative voter, but have great respect and affection for Ted Heath. As this documentary suggests, politics was perhaps a strange choice for him as he was something of an introvert and a loner, not a glad-handing type who liked to be among people a lot. Not a great communicator either, although ironically he became a much better speaker after he lost the premiership and the leadership of his party, was able at last to relax and give reign to his personality. He was a man of great integrity and honesty. He was also a very unlucky prime minister. Events conspired in the cruelest way against him. As you say, there seems to have been a sweetness and sensitivity about him that the public rarely got to see. If you are interested I can recommend John Campbell's excellent biography.
@@martm216Good comments. Fascinating and fundamentally decent man. He wasn't PM for long but what a turbulent time he had of it.
It's amazing how much easier digital ones are compared to full mechanical pipe organs. When my last post's building has to have a major refurb, I persuaded the Elders to pay for Harrisons to come in, completely strip out my beautiful 3 manual 60 voice Father Willis, fully renovated everything and reinstall again after the building work was complete (I had a Bechstein upright piano in the interim 👿).
I am sure you will agree Paul, church leadership really needs to realize that these instruments are the most valuable piece in most churches (often even more than the value of the actual building in many cases) but they usually do not care.
For example, when they fully deep cleaned out every pipe, case, damper box and case, they emptied 1/4 metric TONNE of dust just from the Great rank (Hauptwerk), which shocked the Elders, almost as much as the bill did the Treasurer hee hee.
Needless to say, after it was restored and back in place (it took 5 months by the way), the hilt plated pipes re-golded looked stunning, but the sound and movement was as good and so much purer than it had ever sounded, other than the day it was originally commissioned in 1875. Better still, and I had not actually realized because the piano had always been tuned to match the organ, it was a tone and a half flat!!!! Glad your transition did not incur that much effort and expense (and, as for your neighbours, if they do not appreciate living next door to one of the world's finest young maestros, set the penguins on them!!!)
Thanks for uploading this excellent BBC documentary. Whatever one's politics, isn't it good to see the respect that politicians of Heath's and Healey's day had for another, across the party divide? Unlike the tawdry rabble that we have today, God help us.
This presenter is intrusive to the point of rudeness...Ted Heath's private is his own business ....whoever in this comments compares Ted Heath is the epitome of an officer & a gentleman and that toerag jimmy savile represented everything that was vulgar, cheap, tawdry and vile.
Absolutely agree!
Cockerell always tries to humanize his subjects. Probably the best documentarian of British politics.
Excellent comment. Heath was indeed very private,....yes he was socially awkward
and ill at ease at social interaction, socialising or flirting.
If anything, I suspect he was sexually innocent, still virginal.
He had no feelings of love for those two ladies featured and I suspect he would have
been clueless as to what to do with them had he been in a sexual situation with them.
More likely he had gay feelings but was unable to get close to anyone let alone express them
or get involved with anyone.
Seemed to be no obvious salacious gossip about past affairs or flings even back to his
teenage years. .
He was a pedophile.
Excellent documentary. The section that covers the death of Heath's mother is very moving.
Thank you for uploading this.
One of the few deeply personal political biographies and some moments particularly when asked about the lady he never had the chance to marry the sorrow came almost instantly across his face.
He was a pompous,cold individual who could not be 'folksy ' to any extent. A closet homosexual who some have said had an interest in young boys, although this was just a rumour. Malcolm Muggerage alluded to this in an interview with Bill Buckley.
Wonderful man
What I dislike about the interviewer... he is obviously trying to get Heath to say "I'm not married because I am not attracted to women."
that's fine since ted was a pedo. why not asmk?
"A shiver looking for a spine to run up." Harold Wilson's jibe about Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath,
Great man and his autobiography "The Course of My Life" is well worth a read.
The old Heath reminds me of Evelyn Waugh. Only the cigar is missing.
And the ear trumpet
13' 53" a brief glimpse of Boris Johnson, before he adopted his 'windswept and interesting' hairstyle.
Just after Cockerell says "The Union is proud of having produced five Prime Ministers..." the foreshadowing! (This documentary was made in 1998, when Johnson was a Telegraph columnist, before he even entered Parliament)
@@richardslade1333 That should be a warning indeed.
Great musician
54:30 omg so funny no love lost between him and Thatcher 🤣🤣
Self-doubt is a crucial element for a well rounded personality and it drives a person to improve. Most hacks are entirely sure of their abilities.
5:47 - "I doubt if he has ever had a ball in his hand in his life" - I am tempted to make a rude comment on this remark, I won't. I will just leave it here.
John, I reckon he handled more balls than Gordon Banks
Only a moron SUCH AS YOU, would have completely missed the irony of your comment.
@@johnnyp2898 You RECKON?...based on...?. P for PEABRAIN.
@@HIOP0 No need to be abusive my poofy friend
@@johnnyp2898 Perhaps where you were cobbled together, that passes for humour. You're too stupid to understand, return to your puddle and grunt there, happy in your ignorance. Hope that helps. 🙂
On what planet did Ted Heath have a "cockney accent"??😂😂😂😂
27.20 Love the skill with which he avoids answering the question
TUFTON BEAMISH!?!? Yes!
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy."
That ‘twas brillig!
He was awesome
Heath was a kind man, and became a good friend of Harold Wilson's wife, Mary.
23:04 Love's Old Sweet Song - remind of me of this songs prominent place in Ulysses.
Half-an-hour in and the first evidence of his deep love of Margaret Thatcher is subtly aired. “Rejoice rejoice rejoice!”
5:51 “ I doubt he ever had a ball in his hand in his life.” Ken Hunt.
He usually had two balls in his hands at one time - usually those of underage boys.
Heath was a nicer person then Thatcher.
In the end Thatcher was knifed in the same way she knifed Heath.
Excellent video. Cockerell asked all the tricky questions in a respectful way.
Maggie deposed in a coup d'etat when she was at the peak of her powers.
Her assassins then brought us the ERM fiasco and 15% interest rates on Black Wednesday....and a bitter, crippling recession.
Then topped it off with the 1992 Maastricht Treaty debacle when a formerly free trade, common market was converted into political
and federal union with Europe, the disastrous EU and ''ever closer union''.....and not a word of consultation with the electorate.
He is a Thanet boy like myself, and he was MP for Bexley where I lived for years...used to see him in the old Beefeater a lot...with his pasty lookin "carer" feedin him!
You can tell his dad was a massive fan!!
Sir Edward Heath was a good Cricketer in his youth was a member of Kent County Cricket Club
Was my local MP from old Bexley and sidcup
You can really see that Ted really really adored his mum You can hear his tone break a bit when he mentioned her
Lovely fellow.
13:54 Boris Johnson?
Yes, he was president of the Oxford Union also in the 80's, becoming the 6th former president to be Prime Minister and the first since Ted Heath. One can see William Hague (opposition leader 1997-2001), Michael Heseltine and Gyles Brandreth there also.
*5 GOOööOOøOLLLLDDD RINGS*
Found you, Boris 13:53
Maybe Ted's father should have let him pursue music as a career. In that world he could have been OPENLY gay. All his talents -- outside of politics -- would have made him a much happier man.
There's always the possibility that he never really fancied any men either.
But it is by no means clear that he was gay. He did nothing and said nothing on the matter, so we will never know.
Britain's answer to Liberace
He would have been better suited to a career in music, he was a failure as a politician....
came up with all the wrong solutions,..not least on the EEC fiasco.
Wonderful documdntary where the subject is focal and we hardly if ever see the interviewer. The BBC do not make such excellent films anymore because the ego of the current interviewers and journalists is indulged, they set out to catch and condemn their subject these days opposed to remaining impartial so the viewer can raise their own conclusion
Heath was a wonderful piano player and cultured man..
*****
Produce the evidence.
Vermilion is a simpleminded fool who believes in the bogeyman--this is all hearsay and innuendo about Heath--people like you were ready to burn the witches at Salem--your mind has evolved since the 1600s--use it !! Don't be ignorant your whole life !
Because Heath was above such rubbish reported by Murdock's rag tabloids..Savile was a different case- a lot of his victims stories were collaborated with witnesses and his working peers--as far as Heath raping and killing children--totally outlandish..
***** Produce the evidence - not inuendo.
*****
Being publically accused is not evidence. Copernicus was publically accused by the church of lying about the positioning of the sun and the earth and, of course he was proved to be right.
Always on the left on the consertive
13:53 -- Is that Boris Johnson on the far left? (No pun intended.)
For sure
yes
he didn't have a cockney accent. dunno where tha guy got that from. seems like a decent guiy when he was alive.
To a super toff, Ted Heath had a cockney accent, lol.
30:05 ...Harold Wilson described him ..."as a shiver looking for a spine to run up"...
And yet rumours abound he was a Charlie Chester.
Of course there are malicious rumours. The press has always been homophobic in this country. Anyone who doesn't marry must be gay and someone's gay then it stands to reason that they molest young boys! 🤦🏻
1974... And in the U.S. we were dealing with Richard Nixon & Watergate.
Strangely enough Nixon and Heath did not have a close working partnership, more due to Heath than Nixon. Strange, because in terms of background, personality and their style of policy they shared quite a lot.
www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/world-history/when-heath-met-nixon this report of their discussion is quite eye-opening after all these years.
The name of this former prime-minister reminds me of an area of Middle Earth which is bleak, stiff with orcs and full of dragons; The Withered Heath
heath is literally a word in the dictionary which already means a type of place you dope
40.00, "She couldn't write it herself!'. He certainly had her figured.
40:00
Good documentary but Heath has never been regarded as a good Prime Minister.
He was a failure.
capelifter
You should watch the seminars Cathy O`Brien has here.
I lived in Sidcup we had some labour leafleathetook it in humour
Read the meat rack boy by Michael Tarraga. Heath was a protected nonse.
Noncense.
Watch Sonia Poulton's 'Paedophiles in Parliament' - the Heath section is one of the most appalling
Whatever the case may have been,..and his reputation has certainly suffered a right old flaying ( as is usually the case, with the subject being safely dead & rendered mute ),…he certainly didn’t stumble into anything remotely akin to the disastrous stuff-up that Thorpe snared himself in.
Is that who I think it is at 13:54 on the right? Well, Balliol, Oxford, naturally
This interviewer seems to have it in for Ted
Lol -- 'a Cockney accent'! @8:49
Was Eden in the bilderberg group
Itwouldofbeen good ifwe had a coaltion
Boris Johnson at 13:55
Good spot. he's PM now by the way
@@blu3_enjoy Really? I wondered what had become of him. Still cutting his own hair with a knife and fork, I suppose.
Joris Bohnson
I am not a fan of the conservatives but I do believe he was treated very badly when they wanted to get rid of him for Thatcher
I'm a die hard Corbyn supporting socialist, but I really respect and like Heath, for a couple of reasons. 1) he's a WW2 veteran, so he fought to fight fascism. 2) he was a political moderate, he didn't want to crush all of labour, he didn't want to anhilate all nationalised industries. He was genuinely terrified about the social unrest that would be caused if he just guillotined a whole section of British civil society (I.e, the trade union movement) and was part of a generation who saw the horrors of the 30s and just took the post-war settlement as granted, which shows he was a man of moral sanity and principle, unlike that psychopath wrecker and ideological fanatic Thatcher, whose goal from day one was to wholehearted obliteration of working class power and the tyrannical domination of capitalism. 3) he was a committed anti-racist, getting rid of Powell almost immediately (he'd probably be made leader based on the current collection of filthy, crooked, hard right imbeciles and shit stirrers sat on the front bench today) 4) he was a foreign policy moderate, rightly contemptuous of Britain's Stockholm syndrome relationship to America and trying to make us more a part of Europe, recognising the empire was utterly dead and trying to reorient our role in the 20th century (again, in contrast to the deluded self pitying fantasies of the Brexiteering scum). He was also against most if not all of Britain's later foreign policy adventures, from the Gulf War onwards, proffering diplomacy or simply non interference. 5) he was contemptuous of spin. He hated bullshit. He hated gimmicks. He could see that Wilson in particular had turned politics into a worthless kabooki theatre, devoid of substance or genuine political disagreement, a trend that reached its apogee in the Campbell run media circus show that Blair ran, which became utterly calamitous during the run up to the Rape of Iraq, 6) he was talented, classically trained, a skilled pianist, and had a genuine artistic temperament. A skilled man.
Heath really, like Major, was just too sincere for politics, too genuinely honest, too genuinely principled. They had no conception of how to actually play politics, which destroyed them both, despite if 97% of the time they were right on policy and morality. He, like Macmilliam before him, was a species of actually admirable and morally sane Tory, before the fucking Thatcherite vermin infested it. He was, ironically, the last social democratic prime minister we had. Sad.
Who is corbyn?
Sadly one of the reasons Thatcher succeeded was because Heath failed against the wrecking selfishness of the powerful trade unions, who not only betrayed the people they were supposed to be representing but also the country. If you want a reason for Thatcher and her ilk look to the cretins in the Labour movement both then and now. Corbyn is an utter moron.
Corbyn is none of things you admire about Heath, so I’m a little puzzled as to why you’re a diehard supporter of his.
So, how are you enjoying the slow collapse of the EU now and it’s dedication to destroying Germany and Ukraine and turning all the EU countries over to the unelected tyrannical WEF????waiting for an answer.
I am completely with you. What would he make of the election of Johnson or that one after him? I just read he was cremated, so the Salisbury is alright, otherwise he would be spinning in his grave with anger.
Working Class??
Isn't that BOJO 13:53
Correct
STEPHEN LEE
at 24 and 25 mins in, in the chief whip interview, he reminded me of the HOUSE OF CARDS, PM URQUHART. calculation, manipulation and cold mechanics. a rather dreary lot.
That's the exact same impression I had when I first saw this documentary; even sounded like the late Ian Richardson.
Morgan Rigg ian richardson must have modeled his performance after heath.
So much of the exclamation in his public speaking while in office wreaks of his equally tragic contemporary Richard Nixon. “Do the job;” “finish the job;” … that sort of rhetoric. I honestly wonder who stole this tactic from whom, or if it was mere coincidence.
i hear a lot of shit about that in regard to political figures on here..i want to say that it seems unlikely..but it's kinda hard to say..on the one hand a lot of government institutions are corporations with the legal authority to commit crimes for profit and to influence the political offices of political figures, and it is illegal for corporations to not maximize profit for the shareholders, so it is technically illegal for them to not act on that for profit..but not to exploit it
A sad documentary... We are so obsessed with party ideology that we forget that politicians are after only human. I admire him for living a public life in spite of all the whispers... I wonder what he would have thought of Brexit.
Horrified I would think.
And I really do believe that Thatcher would have been as well. She campaigned to remain in the 1975 referrendum and although she was not in favour of the EU's growing power she knew which side her bread was buttered on.
Could someone please tell me the name of the music at 1:07 - it sounds like a violin concerto. Its absolutely beautiful.
czcams.com/video/B1nWC2V2vgg/video.html
Brahms, 4th symphony
45:00
Sir Tufton Beamish
Many comments here about Heath's sexuality but few seem to realise that during the post-war years, sex itself was a taboo subject
not least the subject of homosexuality for which an overwhelming majority felt nothing but disgust and revulsion.
By the time I left secondary school in 1976, sex education hardly existed,..your parents never spoke about it, these stigmas continued for many years.
If there was gossip that a politician was a queer, he was finished,..these matters were confined to the closet, never ever mentioned.
It was often the case that gay men actually met and married females and raised a family...not least to conform with the expectations of society.
This deceit was necessary as it looked suspicious if a man was not married by the time he was aged 25, certainly 30.
Of course, this deceit would come to light years later when the gay husband would admit the truth,..leaving behind a devastated wife.
Edward love always kay
@@ghassenkaabi It was an empty charade, my friend,.
27:22 well my view is
is that boris johnson on the right at 13:53?
Yes
I am a brexiteer with a soft spot for Heath. I think he had the right motives (no war etc) but his arrogance distanced him from his powerbase which led to his downfall.
I totally believe we were wrong to join the eec and that Heath paid far too high a price for joining.
He was desperate.
But I believe henwas a v decent human being who fought for what he believed was right.
I also respect his courage as a soldier.
This comment I love. It's again going from the base that everyone is doing their best, and that their intentions are there for making thing better. I miss this a lot.
Other way round I really get you wanting out of the EU. Getting a big part of your sovereignty back I really get! But is it worth the downsides? While the most rules and regulations are almost the same than you would enact in the UK, and the rest is for the good peace. And (we in the Netherlands do this also) while water down the input in the EU-parliament by choosing protest-party's, which were only there to get their daily allowance.
Downsides are consequences of decades of socialism and loss of Sovereignty.@@JJVernig
Yes, he saw the EEC as a silver bullet to pull us out of the stagnant socialism adopted and followed from 1945.
It was a Franco/German stitch-up to asset strip the UK, he signed us up to the cash guzzling and utterly fraudulent
CAP and CFP, the latter which handed the UK fishing industry to the French.
By 1979, fishing ports such as Aberdeen, Grimsby and Hull had been decimated.
He was very unfortunate pmbutwe had ecomics poblems
He should of joined new labour
or..citizens are government property which would be illegal to not be used as merchandise beyond the point that it interferes with the operations to the extent of losing revenue
a fascinating and absorbing documentary.
Heath should have carved a career in music and not politics to which he was obviously ill-suited.
He had no vision or political principles and was hapless against trade union tyranny.
Lied to the people when he took us into the EEC knowing all along that it would lead to a political
and federal union with Europe, effectively the EUSSR. EEC was a trojan horse. b
Crawling and begging to the French to join the EU ! what a joke
He had a hard time as prime minister dealing with troubles he was good conductor
I’m a Labour supporter but Ted was a decent man, almost the last decent leader of the Tories before thatcher ruined the party
I agree
I wonder if anyone ever knew of the blockades against free trade by Britain against Germany before WWI and the subsequent such attacks that similarly caused WWII.
So differenceleft of the Tory party
Major was a better PM than Heath. [thatcher better than both]
I was speaking in terms of personality. my apologies for being vague.
At least Major, technically, won a reelection, and he did preside over a period of economic expansion, but he had less of an impact of foreign affairs than Heath.
Wasn't he gay or AA sexual It's somebody answered me that question
Neither. He buggered children.
Ultimately asexual but I think he was a closet gay.
I'm certain he never met anyone because he was soicially awkward and seemed to have
a frosty demeanour.
Not for a minute was he in love with those two ladies and I doubt very much he would
know what to do with them even if he was naked with them in bed.
Michael Cockerill talks about it in this interview, he tells an interesting story. Go to 31:30 in this video czcams.com/video/vPa0PhfnWGM/video.html
Heath has to be have been one of the coldest and automaton Prime Minister this country ever had. Even Thatcher had some warmth and charm to her. Heath had no charm, just ice water in his veins and a swinging brick for a heart.
Lovely documentary quite sad to watch at times, not a Tory myself but neither am I a tribalist, I can see his qualities decency, honour, integrity, principles duty, in that era many had those qualities, sadly the same can’t be said today
Very much maligned regarding his personal life.
I think he was socially awkward and preferred his own company. Poor social skills.
If anything, he was a solitary man.
Well said both
i am dom
Title is snide though. Using the Christopher Isherwood book title...' 'but as subtle as nazi 3rd reich architecture...