John H. Plumb Quotes

British historian (1911–2001)

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Sir John (Jack) Harold Plumb FBA (20 August 1911 – 21 October 2001) was a British historian, known for his books on British 18th-century history. He wrote over thirty books.

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Alternative Names: J. H. Plumb • Jack Plumb • Sir John Harold Plumb

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Men write history for many reasons; to try to understand the forces which impel mankind along its strange course; to justify a religion, a nation, or a class; to make money; to fulfil ambition; to assuage obsession; and a few, the true creators, to ease the ache within.

For many years, as a gloomy exercise, I used to look for British cars on the streets of New York and the best that I could hope for was a rare "mini" or a rarer Rolls-Royce. Now its streets are alive with Jaguars – a tribute to the new professionalism in British industry which goes right down to the shop floor, a professionalism, however, which still has to be extended and encouraged.
This can only be done by continuing the policies upon which Mrs Thatcher's government has embarked – particularly in education where the need to instill professional qualities and to teach technological skills is paramount. It is only through well trained youth and expanding industry that new, real jobs can be created.
Everyone to whom I spoke in America – senators, industrialists, bankers, publishers – from the left of the Democratic party to the right of the Republican spoke with admiration of Mrs Thatcher, not only of the part she is playing in nuclear disarmament but also of the way she has changed the image of Britain from one of collapse and decay to self-reliance and hope.
They believe, and I agree, that a victory for Labour would be disastrous. Mr Kinnock and his colleagues possess neither the intellect, the foresight, the sense of human reality nor the creative imagination needed for leadership. They know they cannot convince so they attempt to bamboozle.

His <nowiki>[</nowiki>Winston Churchill<nowiki>'s]</nowiki> violent disagreement with Neville Chamberlain did not spring solely from thwarted ambition or personal dislike. Such motives may have sharpened the phrases and honed his epigrams, but the long policy of appeasement, the weakening of Britain's world role, the acceptance of oppression and racialism were to Churchill a denial of England's historical destiny and, because a denial, bound to end in disaster.