STIFF UPPER LIP: An Emotional History of Britain

Ian Hislop

03/04/2014

Recording from Ian Hislop’s talk, ‘Stiff Upper Lip: An Emotional History of Britain’ for CVHF, Saturday, 29th June 2013

The stiff upper lip: the quintessential mark of British stoicism in adversity. Ian
Hislop’s three-part BBC series presented us with ‘an emotional history of Britain’ over the past 300 years, finally asking whether the British lip is still firm and whether indeed it can or should be in a world awash with sentiment. With his habitual wit, Ian Hislop reveals why the stiff upper lip emerged at all, who its greatest proponents and detractors were, (with fascinating insights into two of our greatest heroes, Wellington and Nelson), and why we ended up with the bulldog rather than the cock for our national symbol. This talk is as thought-provoking as it was funny.

Related Contents

Histrionics 2016

The hilarious historical quiz show was back in 2016 at the Chalke Valley History Festival! Tom Holland was in the chair with Ian Hislop and Dr Alice Roberts pitting their wits in a series of all-new rounds and challenges against Charlie Higson and Andrew Roberts.

Read More
Histrionics Quiz Show 2013

Our very own history quiz show which combines deep historical knowledge with razor-sharp wit. Devised by Justin Pollard (historian and writer of QI), Dan Snow and James Holland, this all-new comedy panel show will see Charlie Higson in the Chair, and two teams that include Ian Hislop, Dan Snow, Neil Oliver and Natalie Haynes. A hysterical historical quiz that will go down in our Festival history as one of the more outrageous and irreverent events we have put on..

Read More
Exclusive interview with Justin Pollard

An exclusive interview with Justin Pollard, historical advisor on everything from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' to 'The Tudors' as he discusses with John Fry his new history panel show 'Histrionics' and shares his delight at being involved in this year's festival.

Read More
Photos from Histrionics: The Brand New History Panel Show

It is already becoming something of a tradition for the Festival to lay on something slightly lighter-hearted on the Friday evening, and so this year CVHF came up with something entirely new: a brand new history quiz show, combining deep historical knowledge with razor-sharp wit.

Read More
Exclusive interview with Ian Hislop

An exclusive interview with Ian Hislop at CVHF13, discussing with Xander Drury his fascination with Britain's 'Stiff Upper Lip', his 23 years on 'Have I Got News For You' and his take on Boris Johnson's unstoppable rise.

Read More
The Olden Days: The Power Of The Past In Britain

Audio from Ian Hislop's talk at Chalke Valley History Festival on 26th June 2014 Journalist, satirist, comedian and broadcaster Ian Hislop looks at the British capacity to dwell on imagined golden eras in British history. Based on his documentary series for BBC2, he explores the ways in which that national emotional attachment to a romanticised past is used by artists, writers and politicians. Ranging from Dark Age heroism to Victorian Medievalism to 20th century Pastoralism, it will be a backward look at the nature of looking backwards.

Read More

Sign up to our Newsletter

We will keep you up to date on festival happenings and let you know once the new programme is available.

YOUR EMAIL

* we won’t spam you or sell/give your details to anybody else.