Max Jones

From “Noble Example” to “Potty Pioneer”: rethinking Scott of the Antarctic, c.1945–2011

This article sets out a new chronology and analysis of changing representations of Scott of the Antarctic since the Second World War, which challenges Stephanie Barczewski’s recent account. Section one distinguishes between three developments in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s: first, comedians began to mock Scott and the heroic culture of stoic sacrifice which he exemplified; secondly, a few writers built on these developments to present a political critique of Edwardian culture and society; and, thirdly, biographers modernized Scott’s image by exploring his psychology. Section two reassesses the significance of Roland Huntford’s intervention in Scott and Amundsen in 1979. When studying heroes, the article argues, scholars should distinguish clearly between reputation, newsworthiness and public interest. Huntford made a decisive contribution to the fracturing of Scott’s reputation, a process well under way by 1979, but the controversy surrounding his book also kept Scott in the public eye. Finally, section three argues that, while several recent works have presented more sympathetic portraits, Scott’s fractured reputation will remain contested. The article concludes that the principal change in representations of Scott has been the disappearance of explicitly didactic texts aimed at children and the rise of more irreverent portrayals.

Decolonising Imperial Heroes: Britain and France

The heroes of the British and French empires stood at the vanguard of the vibrant cultures of imperialism that emerged in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. Yet imperial heroes did not disappear after 1945 as British and French flags were lowered around the world. On the contrary, their reputations underwent a variety of metamorphoses in both the former metropoles and the former colonies. The introduction to this special issue of the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History presents an overview of the changing history and historiography of imperial heroes half a century after the end of empire.

Heroes and happy endings: class, gender, and nation in popular film and fiction in interwar Britain

Baldwin’s appeal—Berthezène importantly shows how the influence of ashridge continued after the war. the ashridge institutional model of semi-autonomy from the party was, she argues, recreated in the post-war Conservative political Centre—an organisation led by one of the College’s most ardent pre-war supporters, r. a. Butler. While Bethzene’s analysis of trends in Conservative thought and practice thus draws heavily on existing scholarship by philip Williamson, alison Light, reba soffer and e. h. h. Green (to whom the book is dedicated), the book’s main achievement is to weave these different cultural and ideological readings of Conservatism together around a central institutional thread. the result is a work that brings to life the creation of a particular and important mid-century Conservative mentalité and the way it was disseminated and contested within and without the party. aside from a surprisingly slim treatment of gender at the College, the book should thus form essential reading for anyone interested in British political, intellectual, social and cultural history in the period. strongly recommended.

Ice captain: The life of J.R. Stenhouse

Ice captain: The life of J.R. Stenhouse, by Stephen Haddelsey, Stroud, The History Press, 2008, xviii + 238 pp., £20.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7509-4348-2 Stephen Haddelseys Ice captain tells the ...