Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs (7 May 1921 – 15 March 2016) was an English historian. He was a leading specialist on the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
, and the foremost
historian of broadcasting in Britain. Briggs achieved international recognition during his long and prolific career for examining various aspects of modern British history. He became a
life peer in 1976.
Early life
Asa Briggs was born in
Keighley
Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish
in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford.
Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...
,
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
in 1921 to William Briggs, an engineer, and his wife Jane.
He was educated at
Keighley Boys' Grammar School and
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA (first class) in History, in 1941, and a BSc in Economics (first class) from the
University of London External Programme
The University of London Worldwide (previously called the University of London International Academy) is the central academic body that manages external study programmes within the federal University of London. All courses are branded as simply ...
, also in 1941.
Military service
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, from 1942 to 1945, Briggs served in the
Intelligence Corps and worked at the British wartime codebreaking station,
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
. He was a member of "the Watch" in
Hut 6
Hut 6 was a wartime section of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, Britain, tasked with the solution of German Army and Air Force Enigma machine cyphers. Hut 8, by contrast, attacked Naval Enigma. ...
, the section deciphering
Enigma machine messages from the German Army and Luftwaffe. That posting had arisen because Briggs had played chess at college with Cambridge mathematician
Howard Smith (who was to become the
Director General of MI5 __NOTOC__
The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service (commonly known as MI5), the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency. The Director General is assisted by a Deputy Director Gene ...
in 1979), and Smith had written to the head of Hut 6,
Gordon Welchman
William Gordon Welchman (15 June 1906 – 8 October 1985) was a British mathematician. During World War II, he worked at Britain's secret codebreaking centre, "Station X" at Bletchley Park, where he was one of the most important contributors. ...
, who was also a Cambridge mathematician, recommending Briggs to him.
Academic career
After the war, he was elected a fellow of
Worcester College, Oxford (1945–55), and was subsequently appointed
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
reader
A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to:
Computing and technology
* Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader
* Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application
* A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
in recent social and economic history (1950–55). Whilst a young fellow, Briggs proofread
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
's ''
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the e ...
''.
He was later faculty fellow of
Nuffield College (1953–55) and a member of the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
,
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
, United States (1953–54).
From 1955 until 1961, he was professor of
modern history in
Leeds University
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
and between 1961 and 1976 he was professor of history in
Sussex University, whilst also serving as dean of the School of Social Studies (1961–65),
pro vice-chancellor (1961–67) and vice-chancellor (1967–76). On 4 June 2008, the University of Sussex Arts A1 and A2 lecture theatres, designed by
Basil Spence
Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...
, were renamed in his honour. In 1976, he returned to Oxford to become
provost of
Worcester College
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...
, retiring from the post in 1991.
He was
chancellor of the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
(1978–94) and in May 1979 was awarded an honorary degree as Doctor of the University. He was an honorary fellow of
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, from 1968,
Worcester College, Oxford, from 1969 and
St Catharine's College, Cambridge, from 1977. He held a visiting appointment at the Gannett Center for Media Studies at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in the late 1980s and again at the renamed Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia in 1995–96. Announced in the
1976 Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours 1976 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 4 June 1976 for ...
, he was created a
life peer as Baron Briggs, of
Lewes in the
County of East Sussex on 19 July 1976.
Between 1961 and 1995, Briggs wrote a five-volume series on the history of broadcasting in the UK from 1922 to 1974 – essentially the history of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, who commissioned the work.
.
. He presided over the Society's centenary celebrations in 1993 and continued as President until he retired from the position in 1996. He was also President of the
from 1986 until his death.
He died at home in Lewes at the age of 94 on 15 March 2016.
, Wiltshire in 1955; the couple had two sons and two daughters.
*''The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom'', 5 volumes (Oxford University Press)
::# ''The Birth of Broadcasting'' – 1961
::# ''The Golden Age of Wireless (1927–1939)'' – 1965
::# ''The War of Words (1939–1945)'' – 1970
::# ''Sound and Vision (1945–1955)'' – 1979
::# ''Competition (1955–1974)'' – 1995
* ''The Age of Improvement, 1783–1867'' (Harlow: Pearson, 1959, 2nd edn 2000)
* ''The Channel Islands, Occupation and Liberation 1940–1945'', Batsford Books, London,
* ''A Social History of England''
* ''
''
* ''Victorian Cities''
* ''Toynbee Hall: The First Hundred Years'' (London: Routledge, 1984, )
* ''Victorian Things''
* ''Marks & Spencer Ltd: A Centenary History'', Marks & Spencer 1884–1984
* ''The Franchise Affair'', 1986 (with
* ''Marx in London: An Illustrated Guide''
* ''A Social History of the Media'', 2002 (together with
)
* ''Secret Days: Codebreaking in Bletchley Park: A Memoir of Hut Six and the Enigma Machine'' (Frontline Books, , May 2011)
* ''Special Relationships: People and Places'', 2012
* ''History of Birmingham'', three volumes