The Makers of History:
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
Script by Elizabeth Longford (1906.-2002.) and Harold Kurtz
Cast:
The Duke of Wellington — JACK GWILLIM (1909.-2001.)
Narrator — PAUL DANEMAN (1925.-2001.)
Other parts by PETER BARTLETT (1927.-2007.) and ADRIANE FRY.
“Wellington was and is a British national hero. Two facts brought this about. In battle, he was the savior of his country. He had conquered the conqueror, swept Europe free from the scourge of Napoleon. Napoleon’s masterly gift for waging aggressive warfare may have outshone Wellington’s. But when the two giants met at last on the field of Waterloo, it was not Wellington who suffered defeat. His genius in choosing a perfect defenSive position and in convincing his soldiers by personal example that he and they together could hold out until the tide turned, brought victory to the Allies in one of the few decisive battles of the world.
In peacetime, his selfless, dedicated service established him as the presiding deity of the British Constitution. His path towards this eminence was not without thorns. Uncompromising regard for the truth as he saw it, made him a supremely honest but not a skillful politician. He declared again and again that he had no taste for party politics, whether on his own side or his opponents’, Among his favorite phrases was the remark, “I may be wrong, but…” The “but” was invariably followed by a resolve to go full steam ahead along his chosen course. Thus, as Tory Prime Minister, he was attacked by Tories for enabling Catholics to sit in Parliament; while by Radicals he was execrated for opposing an extension of the people’s right to vote. Later on he again broke with his closest Tory friends over the reform of the Corn Laws.
From that moment he retired for good from the leadership of the Tory Party in the House of Lords and was henceforth ready to give his advice, whenever asked, to any government, of whatever complexion. Yet the services which he rendered to many reforming ministers never turned him into a reformer. Experience of events in Europe convinced him that reform always smacked of revolution. As a peacetime Commander-in-Chief, his system was sometimes criticized. But his devotion to duty inspired younger men to effect those military reforms which he himself may have deprecated.
His forceful reactions to people became legendary. He was a “character,” an English worthy, firing off his amusing salvos without fear or favor. To a publisher who tried to blackmail him, the Iron Duke barked back like one of his own guns: “Publish and be damned!” Tennyson’s ode on his death expressed what everyone had come to think about him:
“The path of duty was the way to glory.”
The records in this series have been planned to give students of history an immediate and exciting insight into the lives and characters of people whose actions and decrees have led to the kind of world in which we live today. They are offered as a new aid to teachers of history, but should appeal not only to all who are students of history, but also to those who are interested in the English language, in the phraseology used by historical figures in their own periods, and the interpretation of the speeches by the carefully-chosen actors and actresses who are impersonating them on record.”
source
At 03:42, the narrator makes a mistake, by saying 1896., instead of 1796.