An Evening on Harold Wilson with Alan Johnson
Wednesday 16th October
Pilrig St. Paul's Church, 1B Pilrig St, Edinburgh EH6 5AH
7pm
7.30pm
We live in an age of political instability, with Prime Ministers coming and going with unusual rapidity. What can we learn about our current turmoil from the long view? Has it always been quite this chaotic? Alan Johnson's concise biography of Harold Wilson takes on the life and premierships of one of the most successful Prime Ministers of recent years. Join us for an informative evening of British politics.
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson was one of the most successful Prime Ministers of recent years. Prime Minister from 1964-1970, and again from 1974-74, he won four elections and a referendum on UK membership of the European Community. The achievements of the Wilson Era - from legalizing homosexuality to protecting ethnic minorities, from women’s rights to the Open university – radically improved ordinary people’s lives for the better.
Former Labour cabinet Minister and bestselling author Alan Johnson presents a portrait of a truly 20th-century man whose ‘White heat’ speech proclaimed a scientific and technological revolution – and who was as much a part of the 60s as the Beatles and the Profumo scandal.
About Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson was a Labour MP for 20 years. He served in five cabinet positions in the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown including Education Secretary, Health Secretary and Home Secretary. He is the author of award-winning childhood memoir This Boy and the sequels Please Mr Postman and The Long and Winding Road. His highly acclaimed first novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill was published in 2021.