Above all, it was the style of Quakerism I was brought up with - an aggressive contempt for popular opinion. The assumption is that most people think something that is wrong, which is great. — David Starkey Copy Share Image
It's one of the great mysteries to me how anybody who has ever believed in socialism can conceivably vote for Blair or New Labour, which is further to the right of any Tory government apart from that of John Major,… — David Starkey Copy Share Image
I was born in a council house, my father left school at the age of 11, had his teeth out without anaesthetic at the… — David Starkey Copy Share Image
I was a complete and typical only child. I was bookish, and sport was out of the question anyway. I had read all of… — David Starkey Copy Share Image
Compare the scale and magnifcence of Versailles with St James's - the brick-built hovel in which the 18th-century kings of England lived. What was… — David Starkey Copy Share Image
Churchill may have made some horrendous mistakes - Gallipoli, for one - but he had a sense of the profundity and integrity of the… — David Starkey Copy Share Image
We have this extraordinarily unbalanced constitution, in which we have an elected dictatorship of the prime minister. — David Starkey Copy Share Image
Historians have become far too precious. Their work has become ever more specialised and, as they steadily lose the context of their studies, they… — David Starkey Copy Share Image
Floating the idea that every kid in Brixton can become a whizkid at information technology is dishonest. — David Starkey Copy Share Image
What I love doing is creating a room, with attractive paintings and colours and furnishings - very much my mother. — David Starkey Copy Share Image