UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1979, British public sector workers went on strike over pay. Among those taking industrial action were gravediggers. But the media, politicians and even their own families turned against them at the thought of bodies being left unburied. Claire Bowes spoke to the gravediggers’ convener Ian Lowes in 2011. (Photo: Protestors during the 'Winter of Discontent'. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Winning the gold medal in Paralympics was a dream.
0:02.7	Singing is a part of storytelling for me.
0:04.7	I need to tell my story to the world.
0:06.5	This is the sound of my Indian life.
0:09.5	The podcast exploring what it means to be young and Indian
0:12.8	in the 21st century.
0:14.2	We young people are being impacted by climate crisis.
0:17.8	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:26.2	Hello and thank you for downloading this episode
0:28.6	of the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:32.6	Claire Bose takes us back more than 40 years
0:35.1	to a period of unrest, which became known as the Winter
0:38.1	of Discontent in the United Kingdom.
0:44.8	It's January 1979.
0:47.4	Britain is facing a particularly cold and bleak winter.
0:51.6	Robbish is piling up in the streets and schools and airports
0:55.3	are closed as one and a half million people take industrial action.
1:00.1	It's the biggest mass stoppage for more than half a century.
1:04.0	Those striking include hospital workers and dockers.
1:07.8	I'm £40 a week with overtime.
1:10.0	That's with overtime.
1:11.8	And how hard do you find a live on that?
	...

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