The Night Of The Long Knives: 1962.

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  • čas přidán 13. 03. 2014
  • 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.

Komentáře • 295

  • @That_Random_Bloke
    @That_Random_Bloke Před 2 lety +11

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

  • @pix046
    @pix046 Před 7 lety +96

    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 Před 5 lety +2

      Three more years now ...and counting.

    • @barryroach1980
      @barryroach1980 Před 5 lety +1

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

    • @frederickmiles327
      @frederickmiles327 Před 4 lety +2

      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 Před rokem +1

      34 years now..

  • @ITVWeatherFans
    @ITVWeatherFans Před 5 lety +59

    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 Před 5 lety +1

      and no cgi

    • @MauriatOttolink
      @MauriatOttolink Před 4 lety

      @@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 Před 5 lety +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.

  • @markcoveryourassets
    @markcoveryourassets Před 5 lety +42

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

    • @holmes5517
      @holmes5517 Před 5 lety +14

      Perhaps it saved their teeth

    • @MauriatOttolink
      @MauriatOttolink Před 4 lety +2

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

    • @cBearTV-
      @cBearTV- Před 4 lety +7

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

    • @floris.927
      @floris.927 Před 3 lety +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 Před 3 lety

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

  • @JasonJason210
    @JasonJason210 Před 6 lety +10

    Great Documentary - thanks for sharing!

  • @marc21091
    @marc21091 Před 5 lety +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 Před 9 lety +10

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

  • @markhayward7400
    @markhayward7400 Před rokem +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.

  • @ysgol3
    @ysgol3 Před 5 lety +9

    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 Před 4 lety

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

  • @petercraig6802
    @petercraig6802 Před 5 lety +11

    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 !!

  • @jeremymarshall7319
    @jeremymarshall7319 Před 9 lety +8

    Even Lord Hill gets his dental work through National Health.

  • @cotswoldcuckoo775
    @cotswoldcuckoo775 Před 7 lety +12

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

    • @brianrodney5202
      @brianrodney5202 Před 6 lety +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 Před 5 lety +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 Před 4 lety

      Cotswold Cuckoo b

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 Před 4 lety

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

  • @evanstj5
    @evanstj5 Před 5 lety +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 !

  • @insertclevername4123
    @insertclevername4123 Před 27 dny

    --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...)

  • @Carpetlay1
    @Carpetlay1 Před 6 lety +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

  • @zulkiflijamil4033
    @zulkiflijamil4033 Před 8 měsíci

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

  • @billybabu
    @billybabu Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @akumar7366
    @akumar7366 Před 4 lety +4

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

  • @richardlaversuch2901
    @richardlaversuch2901 Před 8 lety +7

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

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 Před 7 lety +2

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

    • @dreamdiction
      @dreamdiction Před 5 lety +1

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

    • @herbayum76
      @herbayum76 Před 5 lety +5

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

  • @martm216
    @martm216 Před 3 lety +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.

  • @richardlaversuch9460
    @richardlaversuch9460 Před 5 lety +5

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

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +4

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

  • @5thdimensionliving727
    @5thdimensionliving727 Před rokem +2

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

  • @Merlin-lc4zu
    @Merlin-lc4zu Před 4 lety +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 Před 4 lety +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 Před 4 lety +1

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

  • @francisbacon7738
    @francisbacon7738 Před 4 lety +2

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

  • @Meckiffe1976
    @Meckiffe1976 Před rokem +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!

  • @tonywalsh5444
    @tonywalsh5444 Před 5 lety +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 Před 4 lety +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 Před 2 lety +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.

  • @WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1
    @WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1 Před 8 lety +9

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

    • @thelastgreenelf
      @thelastgreenelf Před 7 lety +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 Před 5 lety +1

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

  • @Omnishambles94
    @Omnishambles94 Před 7 lety +1

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

    • @brianrodney5202
      @brianrodney5202 Před 6 lety +6

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

    • @channelfogg6629
      @channelfogg6629 Před 5 lety +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.
      czcams.com/video/qqsp413SXuQ/video.html

    • @thedativecase9733
      @thedativecase9733 Před 4 lety +1

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

  • @reidawg72
    @reidawg72 Před 9 lety +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 Před 9 lety +4

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

    • @VincentRE79
      @VincentRE79 Před 9 lety +3

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

    • @AdmiralBlake
      @AdmiralBlake Před 9 lety +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 Před 9 lety

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

    • @AdmiralBlake
      @AdmiralBlake Před 9 lety +7

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

  • @FurryAminal
    @FurryAminal Před 8 lety +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 Před 5 lety +3

      his son said he was pressured and forced.

    • @dreamdiction
      @dreamdiction Před 5 lety

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

    • @johnlawrence2757
      @johnlawrence2757 Před 5 lety +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 CZcams at the moment: I wonder if anyone has got his impersonation of MacMillan ????

  • @alainrogez8485
    @alainrogez8485 Před 4 lety +3

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

  • @barbaracrickley6191
    @barbaracrickley6191 Před 5 lety +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.

  • @grahamlait1969
    @grahamlait1969 Před 5 lety +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.

  • @lucianopavarotti2843
    @lucianopavarotti2843 Před měsícem

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

  • @MARKETMAN6789
    @MARKETMAN6789 Před 3 lety +2

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

  • @SiggiNebel
    @SiggiNebel Před 9 lety +28

    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 Před 9 lety +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 Před 9 lety +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 Před 9 lety

      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 Před 9 lety +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 Před 9 lety

      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.

  • @akumar7366
    @akumar7366 Před 4 lety +4

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

  • @jacklinks1854
    @jacklinks1854 Před 6 lety +6

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

    • @peterharwood1430
      @peterharwood1430 Před 6 lety +2

      Bullshit.You clearly did not know him.

    • @markharrison2544
      @markharrison2544 Před 6 lety +3

      Macmillan was a disaster who betrayed the UK.

    • @peterharwood1430
      @peterharwood1430 Před 6 lety +2

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

    • @rorojara001
      @rorojara001 Před 5 lety

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

    • @exeterbeekeeper
      @exeterbeekeeper Před 5 lety

      He was a toff

  • @benmarshall4769
    @benmarshall4769 Před 9 lety +1

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

    • @oldelephantstew
      @oldelephantstew  Před 9 lety +7

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

    • @brianrodney5202
      @brianrodney5202 Před 6 lety

      ' In Party Mood ' composed by Jack Strachey.

    • @channelfogg6629
      @channelfogg6629 Před 5 lety +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.
      czcams.com/video/qqsp413SXuQ/video.html

  • @markmeade478
    @markmeade478 Před 5 lety +15

    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 Před 5 lety +1

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

    • @mootamoonta261
      @mootamoonta261 Před 3 lety +2

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

  • @janethollman7894
    @janethollman7894 Před rokem

    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.

  • @BK-uf6qr
    @BK-uf6qr Před rokem

    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.

  • @poodtang2104
    @poodtang2104 Před 2 měsíci

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

  • @patrickt.4121
    @patrickt.4121 Před 7 měsíci

    Night of the long butter knives! 😁

  • @veggie42
    @veggie42 Před 8 lety +14

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

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +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.

  • @tedthesailor172
    @tedthesailor172 Před 4 lety +5

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

    • @tedthesailor172
      @tedthesailor172 Před 4 lety

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

  • @brianhaskard1042
    @brianhaskard1042 Před rokem

    Aitken, butter wouldn't melt!

  • @claudrains7700
    @claudrains7700 Před 7 lety +1

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

  • @ysgol3
    @ysgol3 Před 5 lety +4

    For some reason I find Macmillan hilarious.

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 Před 5 lety +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 Před 5 lety +3

      @@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''.

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +2

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

  • @bradkennett5759
    @bradkennett5759 Před 9 lety

    I wish we had BBC-TV PBS is also nice

    • @jinnymudlark1815
      @jinnymudlark1815 Před 5 lety

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

  • @erpollock
    @erpollock Před rokem

    British politics were savage indeed.

  • @angloaust1575
    @angloaust1575 Před 3 lety

    Was profumo involved
    Christine and mandy

  • @rorojara001
    @rorojara001 Před 6 lety +11

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

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +2

      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 Před měsícem

    Aitken and Thorpe😮

  • @ScumfuckMcDoucheface
    @ScumfuckMcDoucheface Před 3 lety

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

  • @juliarabbitts1595
    @juliarabbitts1595 Před 2 lety

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

  • @gregb6469
    @gregb6469 Před 8 lety +8

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

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 Před 7 lety +1

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

    • @gregb6469
      @gregb6469 Před 7 lety +2

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

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 Před 7 lety

      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 Před 7 lety +1

      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 Před 7 lety +1

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

  • @AndRewUK24
    @AndRewUK24 Před rokem

    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 Před měsícem

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

  • @charlesnelson5187
    @charlesnelson5187 Před 2 lety

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

    • @andydixon2980
      @andydixon2980 Před 2 lety

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

  • @jeffreyadams648
    @jeffreyadams648 Před 5 lety +4

    Sounds very contemporary.

    • @bingola45
      @bingola45 Před 4 lety

      Contemporary with...
      ...what?

  • @mykeywass
    @mykeywass Před 20 dny

    They were all sozzled 24/7

  • @KazgarothUsher
    @KazgarothUsher Před 9 lety +7

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

    • @johncronin9540
      @johncronin9540 Před 6 lety +2

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

    • @wstevenson4913
      @wstevenson4913 Před 5 lety +1

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

    • @uazgb
      @uazgb Před 5 lety

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

    • @davidbutler5526
      @davidbutler5526 Před 5 lety +1

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

    • @wstevenson4913
      @wstevenson4913 Před 5 lety +1

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

  • @robertmaceanruig6291
    @robertmaceanruig6291 Před 3 lety

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

  • @jennyhulme1942
    @jennyhulme1942 Před 5 lety

    So does anyone actually know why he did it?

  • @dirkadriaan6019
    @dirkadriaan6019 Před 3 lety

    It should be: Die Nacht Der langer messer!

  • @geekpie100
    @geekpie100 Před 3 lety +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.

  • @clydebear6914
    @clydebear6914 Před rokem

    Jonathon Aitken.....jail bird.

  • @philipgreen6085
    @philipgreen6085 Před rokem

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

  • @dariowiter3078
    @dariowiter3078 Před 6 lety +5

    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 Před 3 lety

    The PM has to be a butcher and know the joints

  • @jonathanbrown3771
    @jonathanbrown3771 Před 7 lety +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.

  • @jacklinks1854
    @jacklinks1854 Před 6 lety +1

    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....?

  • @peterfarrelly483
    @peterfarrelly483 Před 4 lety

    Joh Bejelki peterson

  • @acohen1980
    @acohen1980 Před 10 lety +9

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

  • @terrencepeterritchie3632
    @terrencepeterritchie3632 Před 5 lety +1

    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 Před 2 lety

      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?

  • @markjabroni7795
    @markjabroni7795 Před 5 lety +4

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

    • @petermills542
      @petermills542 Před 5 lety +1

      @@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 Před 5 lety +2

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

    • @barbaracrickley6191
      @barbaracrickley6191 Před 5 lety

      @@phillipecook3227 , it was the N word.

    • @phillipecook3227
      @phillipecook3227 Před 5 lety

      @@barbaracrickley6191 yes I know.

  • @waynusp1664
    @waynusp1664 Před 7 lety

    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!

  • @marcamerine8138
    @marcamerine8138 Před 5 lety +2

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

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 Před 5 lety

      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.

    • @th8257
      @th8257 Před 4 lety +3

      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.

  • @catherineoconnell3213
    @catherineoconnell3213 Před 5 lety

    Dogs life.......

  • @paullangton-rogers2390
    @paullangton-rogers2390 Před 4 lety +1

    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 Před 4 lety +3

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

    • @lucianlawson-foley5967
      @lucianlawson-foley5967 Před 4 lety

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

  • @hirundine44
    @hirundine44 Před 5 lety +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 ...

  • @janethollman7894
    @janethollman7894 Před rokem

    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.

  • @ian_b
    @ian_b Před 4 lety +2

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

  • @neponsetriver
    @neponsetriver Před 5 lety +3

    I thought initially this was about the Nazi bloodbath.

    • @jackpavlik563
      @jackpavlik563 Před 4 lety

      Neponset River curious reuse of the term.

  • @johncourtneidge
    @johncourtneidge Před 3 měsíci

    Damaged people, Tories.

  • @graemeyetts3465
    @graemeyetts3465 Před měsícem +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 Před 10 dny

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

  • @frederickmiles327
    @frederickmiles327 Před 5 lety

    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

  • @lucasevamy
    @lucasevamy Před 4 lety +2

    who knew enoch powell was such a drama queen

    • @scottrichardson1529
      @scottrichardson1529 Před 4 lety +2

      Who knew enoch Powell would be proved right

    • @lucasevamy
      @lucasevamy Před 4 lety +1

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

    • @scottrichardson1529
      @scottrichardson1529 Před 4 lety +1

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

    • @lucasevamy
      @lucasevamy Před 4 lety +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 Před 4 lety +3

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

  • @olyokie
    @olyokie Před 5 lety

    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 Před 5 lety +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 Před 5 lety

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

    • @TheEtruscanhorse
      @TheEtruscanhorse Před 5 lety

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

    • @johnking5174
      @johnking5174 Před 5 lety

      @@TheEtruscanhorse Me?

    • @TheEtruscanhorse
      @TheEtruscanhorse Před 5 lety

      @@johnking5174 No.

  • @xposethatruth1682
    @xposethatruth1682 Před rokem

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

  • @iannonhebel677
    @iannonhebel677 Před 4 lety +3

    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,

  • @10wanderer
    @10wanderer Před 4 lety

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

  • @stijnvandamme76
    @stijnvandamme76 Před 3 lety

    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 Před 3 lety +4

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

  • @aqueenslander
    @aqueenslander Před 3 lety +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

  • @MARKETMAN6789
    @MARKETMAN6789 Před 3 lety

    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  Před 3 lety +1

      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.

  • @anth5122
    @anth5122 Před 4 lety

    Enoch, you would not believe what this country has become