Summary
The writer and pacifist Vera Brittain is discussed by her daughter Baroness Shirley Williams and Dr Clare Gerada, Chair of the Royal College of GPs.
Vera Brittain's life was shaped by the grief that followed the loss of her fiance, her brother and two good friends. She candidly conveyed the toll of the First World War on her generation in the best-selling 1933 book, Testament of Youth.
Matthew Parris chairs an insightful exploration of what it was like to be brought up by Vera a mother who was, for many reasons, simply unavailable to the young Shirley Williams.
Vera was a teenage feminist desperate for an education. But she turned her back on her studies at Oxford in 1914 because she felt compelled to serve as a nurse, wanting to join her brother and his friends in the trenches.
Shirley Williams explains that as a result of her experiences, Vera became a committed pacifist, at a time when it was deeply unpopular to do so.
Dr Clare Gerada nominates a fascinating life while paying tribute to two women - mother and daughter - who she believes have made the 21st century a better place for women to live.
Produced by Mark Smalley.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this great lives podcast from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:04.0 | For more information and details of other podcasts, just visit BBC.co. UK slash radio 4. |
| 0:11.0 | Hello, as a child I wrote because it was as natural to me to write as to breathe. |
| 0:17.7 | And before I could write I invented stories, noted the subject of today's edition of Great Lives. |
| 0:24.0 | But whilst she's remembered as a writer, her life was also dedicated to furthering two noble |
| 0:29.3 | causes, pacifism and feminism, to which end she bent her great gifts. |
| 0:35.0 | My guest today is Dr. Claire Gerada, |
| 0:38.0 | chair of the Royal College of G.P. |
| 0:40.0 | The first woman in that job for half a century. |
| 0:43.0 | Welcome, Claire. |
| 0:44.0 | Tell us whom you've chosen and why. |
| 0:47.0 | Thank you. |
| 0:48.0 | Well, I've chosen Vera Britain because like many young teenagers, I her I read the Testament of Youth. |
| 0:56.0 | At the time First World War was always seen through the eyes of men, |
| 1:00.0 | it was always seen as guns and the trenches and karky and and here for the first time |
| 1:06.3 | was the first war through the eyes of a woman and though I fully didn't fully |
| 1:11.3 | understand it at the time what I was clearly in other people |
| 1:15.6 | gripped them was this narrative that went through of love and this narrative of |
| 1:19.6 | loss and it was I can't say, shaped my life, but certainly it was one of the most influential |
| 1:26.1 | books that I read around about that time and it marked for me the sort of transition from childish |
| 1:31.7 | books to the sort of adult world. But actually it's more recently when I met her |
| 1:37.8 | daughter Shirley in the House of Lords around the Health and Social Care |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.