logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2022
10m 28s

UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In 1979, British public sector workers went on strike over pay. Among those taking industrial action were gravediggers.

But the media, politicians and even their own families turned against them at the thought of bodies being left unburied.

Claire Bowes spoke to the gravediggers’ convener Ian Lowes in 2011.

(Photo: Protestors during the 'Winter of Discontent'. Credit: Getty Images)

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Yesterday
The origins of the all-inclusive holiday
Holidaymakers arrived at the first Club Med resort on the Spanish island of Majorca in the summer of 1950. Founded by the Belgian water polo player Gérard Blitz, Club Méditerranée offered a new kind of post-war holiday built around the idea that leisure should be simple, sociable ... Show More
10m 49s
Apr 2026
The world's first perfume archive
On 26 April 1990, the world's first perfume archive opened in Versailles, France.The idea behind L'Osmothèque was to create a collection of scents and preserve their memory.Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena was one of the team who created it.He speaks to Jen Dale about how L'Osmothèque ... Show More
10m 6s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2023
Hostile Environment
Since the end of April, the University and College Union in the UK has been on a marking strike to demand fair pay and working conditions that have deteriorated significantly. This week, we talk to Dr. Lucy Mayblin a Political Sociologist at the University of Sheffield, about wha ... Show More
38m 39s
Aug 2022
Outliving Mum, Women and Unions
How does it feel to reach the age your Mum was when she died? Jo Morris has talked to 3 women who feel a clock ticking. Their stories are all different but they have one thing in common – none of them have felt able to talk about this before. They didn’t want to worry their loved ... Show More
57m 45s
Sep 2021
Petroldread
People are talking about the UK's fuel queues.Driver shortages, an energy crisis and rising inflation... But are we really heading towards a new "Winter of Discontent" (like the one in 1978)? To find out, we’ve got the BBC’s political reporter from back in the day, Nick Jones.   ... Show More
34m 31s
Feb 2023
Mick Lynch: Strife, strikes and workers' rights
Stephen Sackur speaks to Mick Lynch, leader of Britain’s biggest rail union the RMT. His members are striking for inflation proofed pay and job protection. It is a test case in a new era of worker versus employer fights with resonance across the world. But can the workers win? 
23m 54s
Nov 2023
Let's Go On Strike
Workers involved in tomb construction in the Valley of the Kings staged the earliest recorded strike in history on 14th November, 1157 B.C. Having not been paid their ration of food for 18 days, they set about disrupting temple life and rituals, to the shock of Pharaoh Ramses III ... Show More
11m 54s
Dec 2022
A Striking Dilemma
Could the strikes this winter spell trouble for the government? Adam and Chris speak to Alan Jones, industrial correspondent for the Press Association about what's behind the industrial action that's taking place and what impact these strikes could have.Also, the BBC’s media edit ... Show More
31m 42s
Oct 2021
The Greenham Common women's peace camp
<p>The anti-nuclear weapons protest began in 1981 and lasted nineteen years. Also the first transgender priest in the Church of England, WW2 Polish refugees in Africa, plus why lesbian mothers caused such a stir in the 1970s and was the untimely death of Mozambique's President S ... Show More
50m 12s
Jul 2017
The Oka Crisis
A watershed moment for Canada's indigenous people as Mohawks take on the developers, the birth of UKIP in Britain, memories of the poet Irina Ratushinskaya who died earlier this month - plus dance music with ballet star Nureyev's defection and illegal raving in England's countrys ... Show More
50m 31s