Gossip, Scandal and High Society

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Henry ‘Chips’ Channon documented British high society in eye-watering detail. His diaries are gossipy, sometimes vile and rude but always honest. Even after his death, his diaries struck fear into the British upper classes and it is only recently that they have been able to be published in all their glory. Chips' friendships with figures such as Neville Chamberlain and Edward VIII mean that his diaries provide an unparalleled window into the lives of the powerful. Journalist and author Simon Heffer took on the mammoth task of bringing the diaries to life and sorting through the 1.8 million words that make up the diaries. Simon joins Dan to discuss the life of Chips Channon, how his diaries puncture some of our national myths and why it was 60 years before the diaries could be published.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Audible, where you can now stream the new series of that brilliant Stephen Fry's
0:06.7	Secrets of podcast. It peaks behind the curtain of the 1920s this time. The life and times of the flappers,
0:14.1	police women, radio, the movies, jazz, the British sense of humour,
0:20.3	censorship and the secrets and lies, the financial crash. This is another installment of Stephen Fry that listeners love.
0:27.7	There are some brilliant stories in here, all told in a very Stephen Fry type of way. You're going to love it. Listen now.
0:33.5	Subscription required. See audible.co.uk for terms.
0:38.5	Hi, everyone. What can dance knows history? It's a book that has surprisingly become one of the hottest
0:43.8	tickets of 2021, 2022. It's a gigantic project. It is the Diaries of Henry Chanan, aka Chips Chanan.
0:52.6	An American born, British Conservative politician. He moved to UK in 1920, became very anti-American,
0:59.9	and sort of became more British than the Brits. He was a very close-level Chamberlain, hated Brits and Churchill,
1:05.5	and as a result his Diaries are amazing antidote to some of the national myth through
1:11.0	Tolercells about Churchill in 1940. He is gossipy, he is vile, he is rude, he is honest. These Diaries
1:18.5	are a gold mine for historians. They are wonderful. They have been brought to live by Simon Heffey,
1:24.3	a journalist author, political commentators. He has been on the podcast, talking about the
1:28.1	Victorians before. Now he is back talking about his gigantic editing job on these Diaries.
1:33.6	What did he leave out? Did he leave anything out? Tentay left one little thing out, but you'll hear me asking
1:37.4	that, don't worry. If you want to watch documentaries about that crisis from 1940, about the second
1:42.7	mile war, any other stuff, we've got them at History Hit TV. It's the world's best history
1:47.0	channel. It's like Netflix for History. You simply follow the link in the description of this
1:51.3	podcast. It takes you over to History Hit TV and you can sign up and you get two weeks
1:55.8	free when you start today. In the meantime folks, this has been my favourite thing this year,
1:59.4	just sitting back and just dipping into these Diaries at random. Unbelievable. So here everyone is
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.