We were thrilled to welcome historian, writer and presenter Dominic Sandbrook (1.88-93) to give this year’s Blumenau Lecture on Thursday 9th May, which was attended by over 200 pupils, staff, OMs and members of the Malvernian community.
The Blumenau Lecture is a firm favourite in Malvern’s annual calendar and is named in honour of the College’s former head of history, Ralph Blumenau (who is 100 years old later this year).
Dominic’s talk Britain’s Top 10 Prime Ministers gave guests a whistlestop look at his favourite Prime Ministers of all time. Since the first PM in 1721, there have been 55 PMs, most of which he said have been totally forgotten. In the lead up to his top 10, Dominic gave the audience six observations of PMs through history: the skills of leadership never really change; politics is theatre and some personas are more popular than others; to govern is to choose; the act of choosing will always divide people; to be successful you have to be lucky too; if you really want to be remembered as a success, you need an enemy and a war – and it certainly helps if you win!
As for Dominic’s Top 10, in reverse order:
10. Benjamin Disraeli (1868, 1874-80)
9. Stanley Baldwin (1923, 1924 – 29, 1935 – 37)
8. Sir Robert Peel (1834-5, 1841 – 46)
7. H.H Asquith (1908 – 16)
6. Clement Atlee (1945 – 51)
5. Margaret Thatcher (1979 – 90)
4. William Pitt (1783 – 1801, 1804 – 6)
3. William Gladstone (1868 – 74, 1880 – 85, 1886, 1892 – 24)
2. Sir Winston Churchill (1940 – 45, 1951 – 55)
1. Sir Robert Walpole (1721 – 42)
Dominic is perhaps best known for his books about Britain since the 1950s and is the author of eight books of modern history, as well as the ‘Adventures in Time’ children’s series. He is a regular writer for the Daily Mail and the Sunday Times and has written and presented many documentaries for BBC Two and BBC Radio 4. His popular podcast, The Rest is History (co-presented with fellow historian Tom Holland), was awarded the 2023 President’s Medal by The British Academy. Since first airing in 2020, the podcast has been downloaded an incredible 150 million times globally.
The Blumenau lecture series is made possible due to the philanthropy of Andrew Curran (2.60-64) and we are extremely grateful for his support of Malvern College and the Malvernian Society. This year’s Blumenau lecture was enjoyed by everyone who attended and has been recorded for all to enjoy – watch here.
