Who Dares Wins

This is the fifth instalment of Dominic Sandbrook's magisterial survey of life in Britain since the 1950s. Who Dares Wins opens with a bang. We hear about the conclusion of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege and the rescue of the hostages by the SAS. The motto of the elite special forces unit provides the book's title. Who Dares Wins chronicles the early years of Margaret Thatcher's premiership. According to Sandbrook, these three years were the most exciting and controversial in the UK's postwar history. Economically, they marked a watershed. The country was buckling from the postwar consensus of high taxation, nationalisation, and powerful trade unions.

They were also a time of political upheaval. Thatcher moved away from the postwar Keynesian consensus, tolerating high unemployment as the price of defeating inflation. We also hear about widespread protests against unemployment, which saw the People's March for Jobs and riots in Brixton and Toxteth. Plus the protest of the Greenham women. Sandbrook goes onto explain about Ken Livingston and the battles between central government and left-wing councils. Not to mention the formation of a new party: the SDP.

There's no doubt that Sandbrook has immersed himself in the politics and culture of the era. For example, he claims to have read every edition of all the main newspapers. And his diligence shows. This full and rich history crams a staggering number of events into its 976 pages. Had he confined this book to a discussion of early 1980s politics, it might have been a tough read. Fortunately, Sandbrook also evokes the sights, sounds and smells of the period. He reminds us how awful restaurant food was back then. Charts the rise of the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro. Discusses the proliferation of wine bars, and provides an overview of bands such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran that catered to their clientele's aspirations. Not only that he vividly recounts major sporting events. These include Botham's Ashes, plus the Ovett-Coe 800m and 1500m finals at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

He also displays a breathtaking knowledge of TV shows; the more trivial the better. Observing the different ways in which both Fawlty Towers and To the Manor Born, though television comedies, tell as much about the state of the nation as the BBC's Play for Today.

So, it continues in this vividly panoramic history ranging from high politics to ordinary life. From Falklands to the F-plan diet, from steel strikes to Sloane Rangers, Sandbrook covers every facet of the early 1980s. But the thing that most defined this era was the rebirth of a patriotic populism. Thatcher's victory in the Falklands, he suggests, prompted a sea change in national psychology. Talk of decline gave way to bombast. Phrases such as “Our Country at its Best” and “The British are Back!” became common. Even the Austin Metro was a British car to beat the world. “Perhaps it was here,” Sandbrook reflects, “that the road to Brexit began.” This parting thought is something to chew on while we wait for the next course of this richly satisfying historical feast.