{"id":15140,"date":"2024-10-30T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/?p=15140"},"modified":"2024-10-30T10:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T10:23:14","slug":"tales-from-the-green-benches-an-oral-history-of-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2024\/10\/30\/tales-from-the-green-benches-an-oral-history-of-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week, The History of Parliament Trust is excited to announce a new podcast series, \u2018Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament\u2019.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Since 2012, the History of Parliament has been interviewing former members of the House of Commons in order to capture personal reflections of lives lived in parliament. Including participants from across the three major parties, and ranging in both period of service and length of tenure, findings and insights from this landmark research project have already been showcased in journal articles, a book<\/a>, and numerous articles for the History of Parliament website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, for the first time, we have collated clips and excerpts from these interviews into a six-part podcast series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Contemporary British History at the History of Parliament Trust, and Dr Alex Lock, historian and curator at the British Library, this podcast spotlights some of the brilliant interviews within our 200+ strong archive, using never before heard clips and highlighting the unique insights that oral history interviews provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These insights cover not only the various milestones of a political career, such as the motivation to get involved in politics, joining a party, finding a seat and encounters with the Whips Office, but also the emotional effect political careers can have on personal lives, as well as the experience of historically underrepresented MPs who have found their way onto the green benches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featuring clips from our interviews with Ann Widdecombe, Michael Heseltine, Chris Smith, Helene Hayman and more, this podcast offers a unique insight into life in Parliament at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first. What drove these individuals to enter political life? How did they secure their seat or win an election? And what impact did this job have on their personal life? Find out in \u2018Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listeners can subscribe in advance and listen to a trailer for the series on our webpage here<\/a>, or search for \u2018Tales from the Green Benches\u2019 wherever you get your podcasts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, The History of Parliament Trust is excited to announce a new podcast series, \u2018Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament\u2019.\u00a0 Since 2012, the History of Parliament has been interviewing former members of the House of Commons in order to capture personal reflections of lives lived in parliament. Including participants from across the three major parties, and ranging in both period … Continue reading Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244848225,"featured_media":15144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[11942052,4406049,774275544,34931755,165907480,104839,774275741,94605313],"tags":[35890,1142,774275865],"class_list":["post-15140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-of-parliament-trust","category-20th-century-history","category-contemporary-history","category-elections-2","category-post-1945-history","category-oral-history","category-parliamentary-life","category-political-parties","tag-featured","tag-podcast","tag-tales-from-the-green-benches"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-1.png?fit=3000%2C3000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QYNW-3Wc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19374,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/12\/29\/review-of-the-year-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":15140,"position":0},"title":"Review of the Year 2025","author":"Connie Jeffery","date":"December 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"2025 has been a year of many changes for the History of Parliament, with new projects, a new office, and a new look! But despite this, our brilliant team have continued to produce hundreds of articles, lead groundbreaking research and champion political history across the country. 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Since 2011, the project has interviewed over 250 former members of parliament, creating, in collaboration with the British Library, a unique sound archive of British politics since 1945. To fill some regional gaps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary History"","block_context":{"text":"Contemporary History","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/contemporary-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Logo-navy-blue-2023.png?fit=1200%2C302&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Logo-navy-blue-2023.png?fit=1200%2C302&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Logo-navy-blue-2023.png?fit=1200%2C302&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Logo-navy-blue-2023.png?fit=1200%2C302&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Logo-navy-blue-2023.png?fit=1200%2C302&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15964,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2024\/12\/31\/review-of-the-year-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":15140,"position":2},"title":"Review of the Year 2024","author":"Connie Jeffery","date":"December 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"2024 has been another busy year at the History of Parliament. With a new Director at the helm, we formed new partnerships, launched online projects, and continued to produce original research- all while navigating a General Election! Here is our Public Engagement Manager, Connie Jeffery, with a review of what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History of Parliament Trust"","block_context":{"text":"History of Parliament Trust","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/history-of-parliament-trust\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?fit=777%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?fit=777%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?fit=777%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png?fit=777%2C582&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12724,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2024\/02\/13\/hiv-and-parliament-oral-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":15140,"position":3},"title":"HIV and Parliament: memories from our Oral History Project","author":"Emma Peplow","date":"February 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"For LGBT+ History Month, Dr Emma Peplow, Head of\u00a0Contemporary History, uses the History of Parliament's Oral History archive to reflect on the debates and experiences of HIV in Parliament during the 1980s. When the HIV\/AIDs epidemic arrived in the UK in the early 1980s it was a frightening, confusing time.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary History"","block_context":{"text":"Contemporary History","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/contemporary-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/capture-together-we-can-1.png?fit=757%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/capture-together-we-can-1.png?fit=757%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/capture-together-we-can-1.png?fit=757%2C395&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/capture-together-we-can-1.png?fit=757%2C395&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10599,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2022\/12\/29\/review-of-the-year-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":15140,"position":4},"title":"Review of the Year 2022","author":"Connie Jeffery","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"2022 has been a bumper year for the History of Parliament, as we settled into a \u2018new normal\u2019 of events both online and in person, launched new projects and publications, and continued to grow our online outreach. 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