INDEFATIGABLE ASA BRIGGS EB

Adam Sisman

• Publisher: William Collins
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9780008556457
• eBook ISBN: 9780008556433
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Biographies

Asa Briggs's energy fuelled him to write more than fifty books, including five formidable volumes on the history of broadcasting. At the zenith of his fame he was one of the best-known historians of his generation, his name on a cover a guarantee of substantial sales.

From humble beginnings in the back streets of Keighley, he rose to become a peer of the realm, one of the Great and the Good. He was Vice-Chancellor of Sussex, the most fashionable of the new universities, and Chancellor of the Open University, the largest. He became President of the Workers' Educational Association, reflecting his deep commitment to a more equal society. His own life illustrated the power of education to overcome disadvantage.

But for all his success, his was also a story of frustration and disappointment. He took on too much, and in later life was unable to juggle his commitments as once he could. Moreover, the world around him had changed. Once at the centre of things, he found himself on the periphery.

The inner life of Asa Briggs was more turbulent than it appeared from the outside. Even those who thought they knew him well may be surprised by the revelations in this fascinating biography.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Note to Readers
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The Right Kind of Upbringing
• 2. A Wide Circle of Acquaintance, But Few Intimate Friends
• 3. A Strange New Country
• 4. My Second University
• 5. ‘Your Faithful Bilbo-Goldie-Bozzy’
• 6. Not Too Far Above Board to Be Dull
• 7. ‘Rational Romantic’
• 8. About as Different from Oxford as It Could Be
• 9. History from Below
• 10. The Modern Map of Learning
• 11. Crown Prince
• 12. The ‘With-it’, Twenty-first Century University
• 13. ‘A Hotbed of Communism’
• 14. A Wrench?
• 15. Too Good-natured to Say ‘No’
• 16. Not the Ideal Way to Live
• 17. Victorian Values
• 18. ‘Ought We to Call It A Day?’
• 19. Now Largely De-institutionalised
• Acknowledgements
• Select Bibliography
• A Note on Sources
• Endnotes
• Index
• Picture Section
• By the Same Author
• About the Author
• About the Publisher