BiblioVault - Books about Beckett, Francis

Bevan

Creator of the NHS

Francis Beckett and Clare Beckett

Haus Publishing, 2023

An accessible, concise biography about Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, the man and politician behind the creation of the UK National Health Service.

The creation of the National Health Service was the most significant of the many reforms of the post-war Labour government in the UK. The man responsible was Aneurin “Nye” Bevan. The son of a Welsh miner, he became a local trade union leader at only nineteen. In 1929, he was elected as a Labour MP. Bevan believed the war was Britain’s opportunity to create a new society, a position he maintained throughout the conflict. When the war ended in 1945, the landslide Labour victory gave him the chance to make this vision a reality. Known for his impassioned oratory, Bevan’s fundamental belief that the new NHS should be freely available to all was ultimately at odds with a government struggling to balance the books. He resigned in 1951 over the introduction of charges for prescriptions and glasses. With the NHS requiring an ever-increasing share of national income, this updated edition considers Bevan’s legacy as the future of the health service he created is fought over as never before.

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Clem Attlee

Labour's Great Reformer

Francis Beckett

Haus Publishing, 2015

As British prime minister from 1945 to 1951, Clement Attlee built a legacy that includes today’s famous—and controversial—National Health Service, yet he is often remembered as a rather dull political figure. Rejecting Winston Churchill’s jibe that Attlee was a “modest little man with plenty to be modest about,” this biography makes the case that his reputation as Britain’s greatest reforming prime minister is fully deserved.

Building on his earlier work on Attlee and including new research and stories, many of which are published here for the first time, Francis Beckett highlights Attlee’s relevance for a new generation. A poet and dreamer, Attlee led a remarkable political life that saw, among other challenges, the beginning of the Cold War. Ultimately, this perceptive biography demonstrates that Attlee’s ideas have never been more relevant.

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Laurence Olivier

Francis Beckett

Haus Publishing, 2006

In the 1930s he established himself as a wide-ranging Shakespearean actor. His marriage in 1940 to Vivien Leigh (his second wife) seemed to complete the image of the romantic star. From the mid-40s he excelled in directing himself in Shakespeare on film, such as his dramatically-shot Henry V (1944), with its timely excesses of patriotism. When the new wave of British drama began in the late 1950s, Olivier was immediately part of it. As an actor of such wide range, and a successful producer and director, Olivier was a natural choice to bring the National Theatre into existence in 1963. Together with his new wife Joan Plowright (they had married in 1961), he built up a brilliant company and repertoire at the Old Vic. Olivier became the first actor to be given a peerage.

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Macmillan

Francis Beckett

Haus Publishing, 2006

Fatherly friend to JFK he repaired the rift between the USA and Britain created by the Suez crisis.

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