Gladstone and Disraeli - Clash of the Titans torrent

Gladstone and Disraeli - Clash of the Titans


Gladstone and Disraeli: Clash of the Titans

Tuesday, 3rd March 2009
7:30pm to 9pm
BBC4

Huw Edwards guides us through this fascinating film about the two greatest political figures of the Victorian era: William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. Two men who ruled Britain as Prime Minister in the days when Britain ruled the world.

This wide ranging film concentrates on how these two ambitious and patriotic men changed the course of British politics. Gladstone by creating the Liberal Party, and Disraeli by formulating a more progressive notion of Conservatism that would last well into the 20th century. More fascinating still is their personal enmity towards each other: Gladstone thought that Disraeli was a charlatan, and Disraeli thought Gladstone to be mad.

Through political careers lasting 40 years from the 1850s to the 1890s as either Chancellor of the Exchequer or as Prime Minister. These two men oversaw one of the periods of greatest change in British history, the mark of which was felt all around the world both then and still today.