Paul Addison

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Paul Addison
A.J.P. Taylor
Academic work
DisciplinePolitical history
Sub-discipline20th Century Britain and World War II
InstitutionsUniversity of Edinburgh
Notable studentsGordon Brown
Notable worksThe Road to 1945 (1975)

Paul Addison

Second World War and the post-war period. Addison was part of the first generation of academic historians to study the conflict and is most notable for The Road to 1945 (1975) which traced the origins of the post-war consensus
into the wartime period.

Early life

Paul Addison was born in

Land Girl during the conflict.[1]

Addison attended the King Edward VI Grammar School[2] in Litchfield and subsequently studied at the University of Oxford. He completed his undergraduate degree at Pembroke College before moving to Nuffield College as a postgraduate. Alongside his studies, he assisted Randolph Churchill in preparing the papers of the late premier Winston Churchill for publication alongside other research students Martin Gilbert (1936-2015) and Cameron Hazlehurst.[2]

Along with his contemporary

D.Phil in 1971.[1]

The Road to 1945

Addison's first book was The Road to 1945 which was published with

The People's War (1969) but focused more narrowly on the causes of the landslide victory of the Labour Party in the 1945 general election
. He wrote:

All three parties went to the polls in 1945 committed to principles of social and economic reconstruction which their leaders had endorsed as members of the Coalition. A massive new middle ground had emerged in politics. [...] When Labour swept to victory in 1945 the new consensus fell, like a branch of ripe plums, into the lap of Mr Attlee.

Addison's argument was that the "

nationalisation, and a welfare state in this period. The Road to 1945 was influential in framing the arguments in the political history
of the Second World War in the United Kingdom.

Later work

Addison lectured at Pembroke College, Oxford before moving to the University of Edinburgh in 1967.[2] He remained at Edinburgh for most of his career. He published several further works on British politics during the wartime and post-war periods. These included two noted biographies of Winston Churchill, namely Churchill on the Home Front (1992) and Churchill: The Unexpected Hero (2005).[1] He married in 1979.[2]

From 1996, he was director of the Centre for Second World War Studies in Edinburgh. He worked alongside Jeremy Crang on a series of works exploring "the key role of propaganda, information and the state’s monitoring of civilian morale during the war" as well as the Blitz.[2] He retired in 2005 and became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2006.[1] He died after a long illness on 21 January 2020.[2]

Addison's students at Edinburgh included the future prime minister Gordon Brown who provided a tribute at Addison's funeral.[1][2] It has been argued that Addison's influence led to Brown's decision to raise the top rate of income tax about 40% during his premiership.[3]

Selected publications

References

Sources