david starkey

[Zhukov]

..on Question Time..so rude,so pompous..he looked fit to explode..one lives in hope..

[weecalf]

Anything to Ringo?

[HowardKennitby]

Why are you wasting your time watching that?

[ladybirder]

Oh I really enjoyed it, I like him. He says what other people daren't say and talks a lot of sense. Loved it when he told Dimbleby off because I think Dimbleby has the same effect on me as Starkey does on you:-)

[craft1948]

I think Starkey is great.................always gets the lefties steaming.

[chattykathy]

You're right there, craft

[Zhukov]

haha..just looked at Latest Posts - David Starkey - Queer - i"ll get me coat ,haha

[Kromovaracun]

I feel it's probably worth saying, as someone who is taking steps to enter the research community in history, that David Starkey is not the King Of All The Historians the media makes him out to be. He's virtually irrelevant other than in his capacity as populariser among Early Modernists, and his preference for constitutional/high-political is actually fairly outdated and, from what my Early Modernist colleagues tell me, is fairly removed from what most people in the field are actually doing. I'm told Starkey's name very rarely comes up in citations - and even when it does, it's typically his older work.

Personally, I see no reason why a constitutional historian of the Tudor period is consulted so frequently and help up as having some kind of special insight on current affairs. His opinions really aren't worth any more than the next opinionated journalist. But Starkey is an excellent example of the authority obsession so endemic among parts of the British public. The man is obsessed with his own authority, which would probably make sense in discussions of Tudor politics, but not contemporary politics. That's why he riles me, anyway.

[bazwillrun]

His opinion is no less valid than any of the so called politicians on the prog.
But as has been said by others, he will speak his mind and as is often observed on this site , the truth really riles some people

[jake-the-peg]

The truth eh Baz?

How do you personally distinguish the truth from something you just happen to agree with?

[missnemesis]

Opinion and fact are not one and the same baz. Just because Starkey says it, that doesn't make it true and IMO he, and others of his ilk, are far too keen on portraying their over inflated sense of self as 'authorities'. His opinion is no more valid than anyone else's and that is a fact.

[NOX]

What Kromovaracun said... pompous irrelvenat and outdated in his professional field, in his non professional field his opinion is no more important or valid than mine or yours- he's just an individual and as such entitled to his opinions- even if they are always wrong;-)

[AB Editor]

His points are often valid, but the way he presents them tends to rile people.

[sandyRoe]

He reminds me of Malcolm Muggeridge, both opinionated and big headed.

[missnemesis]

Personally I think his opinion is sought not because he is an 'authority' but because he is deliberately objectionable.

[AB Editor]

"his opinion is sought not because he is an 'authority' but because he is deliberately objectionable."

Almost certainly.

[sunny-dave]

Don't ever watch QT - blood pressure canna take it captain - so I enquired of a friend (who does watch this sort of stuff) "Who is David Starkey" ...

... the answer came back "Like Geoffrey Boycott, but without the natural wit, charm and humanity"

[Kromovaracun]

Anyone else remember Jamie's Dream School? On his first lesson, Dr. Starkey's response to an uppity pupil (in front of a whole bunch of TV cameras) was 'Well, you're so fat you can barely move!'

That's good old-fashioned authority and values for you.

[ladybirder]

Ha ha ha. Love it. As you say craft, gets the lefties steaming. So funny. If you say nobody takes him seriously why are you getting so steamed up about him?

I'd love to know why the comment after my last post was removed. Was it particularly venomous?

[Gromit]

Television likes recurring characters. The latest mad scientist, Prof Brian Cox is the new Patrick Moore or Magnus Pyke.

Likewise, Starkey is the new barmy rightwing historian. Twenty years ago he was played by David IrVing and forty years ago by Enoch Powell.

They are on the telly because they can do the character not because they have any special powers.

I do not like Starkey, just like I didn't like Irving and Powell, but I don't think I am supposed to. He is the Simon Cowell of TV Academics.