Who are the New Elizabethans?
Queen Elizabeth II on her coronation day
How better to paint a portrait of our age than to find the people who have shaped its character?
When Radio 4 listeners get stuck into this, they are going to have a ball. So will I. I鈥檓 excited at the prospect of writing sixty profiles of the people who left the most indelible marks on our time; who, from 1952, have managed the changes that have made us who we are. The point is that we鈥檒l hope to produce a glittering galaxy of the very best, not just the most famous.
No doubt there will be a prime minister or two, an artist or an entertainer who鈥檚 a household name, a sports star who鈥檚 an idol 鈥 but our net is going to be cast much wider than that. If you want to offer a suggestion, think of this: do you know of someone who鈥檚 embedded in the spirit of our age but isn鈥檛 well-enough known? Think of the story of , the man who more-or-less invented the worldwide web who was unknown to so many people until many years after the internet had become our playground. Surely there are others who are in the same category, prophets with too little honour.
And what of the thinkers? Teachers who pioneered ways of dealing with ideas or language, who may not spring to mind as the most prominent figures of the last six decades but who鈥檝e had a profound affect on how we live our lives; or architects who鈥檝e shaped our cities; or campaigners who鈥檝e managed to set the compass in a different direction.
The trick is going to be in the diversity. We鈥檙e going to assemble a panel of distinguished men and women who鈥檒l help with the task, and try to manage the kaleidoscope that we hope will catch the movements in our lives in the course of these sixty years. We鈥檙e not making judgements about who鈥檚 top or bottom, or distinguishing between people who鈥檝e been 鈥済ood鈥 or 鈥渂ad鈥 for politics, giving them some kind of star rating. Instead, we鈥檙e hoping to create a picture, with light and shade, humour and maybe some high seriousness, that will seem like a mirror in which we can see ourselves.
It is a truism that every age is an age of change. But what I hope we can do in these portraits is to catch the speed and the quality of the revolutions we鈥檝e all experienced 鈥 in our communities, in art and music, between the generations, in our view of the wider world. These are the things that matter, and it鈥檚 right that with the happy excuse of a Diamond Jubilee we can try to trace some of the most important changes that have turned the post-war country that welcomed a new queen into a 21st state without an empire, in a globalized world, which seems in so many ways to be a different place.
I suspect that in doing so we鈥檒l be reminded that although so much is different, a great deal stays the same. Continuity is sometimes as remarkable as revolution, and I suspect that some of our New Elizabethans will be people who have understood some of the deepest currents that flow from our past, and learned how to ride them. Countries aren鈥檛 invented overnight, and don鈥檛 change in the blink of an eye. They evolve. Sometimes the process seems alarmingly fast, sometimes painfully slow, but the working out of that history will emerge from these portraits: we should be able to feel the texture of our times.
Mind you, this is going to cause a bit of an argument. I can hear the debates now about how a particular painter or musician made it on to the list while others were left off, not to mention the political disagreement about whose contributions have been the most significant. I have to say that I will relish that, although I must admit I鈥檒l be comforted by the fact that the list is not my responsibility. I鈥檒l have my views, and will make them known like anyone else. But I鈥檒l have a little deniability鈥
It will be useful, because I鈥檓 sure that this project is going to stir up a good debate. How do you compare a philosopher and a singer, a footballer and a prime minister? The answer is that it鈥檚 worth trying to find the strongest threads in our recent history, the ones that hold it together, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going to try to do.
For my part, the challenge of trying to catch the character and the essence of these 60 people is going to be a thrill. I was born just before the Queen鈥檚 accession, so this history is mine too. The New Elizabethans have built the country that I live in, given it colour and life and, in part, made us all the people that we are.
They are worth celebrating.
Jim Naughtie presents Today
- Nominate your New Elizabethans on the Radio 4 website
- Max Hastings, Mary Beard, John Guy and Lola Young discuss who the New Elizabethans are on Start the Week. Listen now.
- Read the Radio Times's feature:
Comment number 1.
At 15th Feb 2012, NickHartGBH wrote:How typical of the 主播大秀, cocooned in its cosy bubble of a state-funded job-creation scheme for opinionated liberal lefties. Does Jim Naughty seriously believes that lauding 60 so-called 'New Elizabethans' 鈥 who presumably bear some responsibility for the state we are now in 鈥 is what we want from our national broadcaster? There's times and places, Jim, and these are not them. Europe in turmoil, education in crisis, NHS on the brink of collapse, spivs and shysters running the banks, self-serving incompetents running the country 鈥 you get the picture. 'New Elizabethans'? What about 'New Cromwellians'?
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Comment number 2.
At 15th Feb 2012, cablewilks wrote:Well I think it is great thing to do and to be involved in. If you don't like the world then get involved and change it, volunteer, get into politics, join the Coop, get stuck in.
I personally am very cheery to have nominated a person who has changed and illuminated my life since 1979 when I found him; Melvyn Bragg, Lord Bragg. Look at the fantastic quality and breadth of his output both as creator, illuminator and filter of culture. Vote for Melvyn.
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Comment number 3.
At 17th Feb 2012, briannicus wrote:Well, obviously Sir David Attenborough, but I'd like to also vote for Dame Janet Baker, one of the truly great singers of this period.
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Comment number 4.
At 18th Feb 2012, AllotmentJo wrote:I think this is a good idea, but I'm having difficulty coming up with one individual. When I think of the 'Vikings' or the 'Jacobite's', I don't think of one person who sum's them up, I think of the ordinary everyday people who contributed to making that particular time special. So, when I think about the New Elizabethan's, the first people to come to mind are those young men and women, who married after the war, and gave birth to the baby-boomers (I'm one). These people rebuilt Britain after the war, and set it on it's current path. My parents had the same beliefs about duty and service as our current Queen has, and did there best to instill those values into their 5 children. Sadly, my parents are no longer with me, but I'm doing my best to educate my grandchildren into what is sometimes referred to as the 'old-fashioned' values that I and my contemporaries were taught. The second era that comes to mind is the Thatcher Era, which in a way, is completely opposite to what I believe what New Elizabethans are about. But don't get me started on Thatcher!
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Comment number 5.
At 20th Feb 2012, gsorfra wrote:like allotment jo's comment, which is why i've nominated my 90 year old neighbour who was one of those truly special people, she's not a public figure, she's not in entertainment or politics, she is a lovely special human being with a tremendous wealth of social history
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