Taking a modern look at the past

OVER its 300 years of existence, the Union between Scotland and England has been described in many ways - sometimes in glowing terms, sometimes in less than complimentary language. However, it's unlikely it's ever been compared to a pizza before.

But then former BBC political editor Andrew Marr - who dubbed it thus - is famed for his ability to make the dry world of politics relevant and exciting. Proof of how well he succeeded with that task during his five years in the role came two years ago when his appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival was the fastest-selling ticket of 2005.

So he is the ideal choice to present A History of Modern Britain, a new series on the BBC, charting the complexities, intrigues and nuances of British social and political life since 1945.

And as would be expected from the Scot, events in his homeland play a key part in the films - not least the question of the Union.

"The image I am using about Scotland and England is two pieces of pizza being pulled apart," says Andrew. The pizza base is already split in two. "It's being held together by the strings of molten cheese," he says cheerfully.

Perhaps not quite how Alex Salmond would put it. But Andrew admits recent events in Scotland have captured the self-confessed political junkie's imagination and he's looking forward to grilling Scotland's new First Minister on his Sunday AM show tomorrow.

"I have been following it all with fascination," he enthuses. "I am really struck by how the SNP has rebranded itself from a left of centre party to talk about issues like the Irish boom and cutting corporation tax."

And he says he's been watching with interest the Nats trying to form alliances to get their policies through. "Tricky," he says. "But it is fascinating to watch."

"Of course," he goes on, "if Scotland becomes independent it would be quite difficult for me as I'm a Scot but my family are English. Which passport would I have? I guess it would be a Scottish passport."

As a BBC employee, he has to be neutral when it comes to party political support. But he freely admits he has "flourished" within the Union, being born in Glasgow and educated at a number of Scottish schools, including Loretto in Musselburgh, then studying at Cambridge University, before returning here for his first job at the Evening News' sister paper The Scotsman. Most of his working life has been spent in England, though, forging a career in London, including a spell as the editor of The Independent.

He regularly returns to Scotland, to visit family in Dundee and Dumfriesshire, to holiday in the far north-west and to return to his "favourite" city, Edinburgh. "But not as often as I'd like," he adds. He'll be back this year for the Book Festival where he's due to give the Donald Dewar Memorial Lecture. But he says he has noticed differences in the country in recent years.

"Every time I come up to Scotland I feel she's more and more her own country," he says. "Edinburgh now feels considerably more than 400 or 500 miles away from London."

In terms of the new series, he says Scotland crops up mainly in two of the films, the first being the episode focusing on the Thatcher years. This features the presenter out on a working oil rig to highlight his belief that North Sea Oil revenues had a bigger part to play in the Tory PM's success than many have recognised. "I have a very strong belief that North Sea Oil was really an undiscussed story. Without the revenue from North Sea Oil those early years of the Thatcher revolution would never have happened," he says.

But the issue has more or less been airbrushed out of the memoirs of the Iron Lady - and most of her contemporaries, with the exception of Nigel Lawson. The

second is the final programme looking at the last 15 years, which is where the issue of the Union crops up and which also examines the Blair years.

"I see Blair very much as a post-Thatcher politician," Andrew explains. "She set the weather and he carried on in the same direction. What's happened in the Blair years, above all, is the country has been completely changed by migration. We have become the most open country in the world.

"So Britain is a more dangerous place in many ways, a more crowded place, a more frantic place, but it's also exciting and buzzy. And I for one wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I like it here. It's one of the most liberal countries in the world. Although with this stuff about ID cards, there's a question if that will be the case in a few years' time."

In the first episode, broadcast this Tuesday, Andrew examines the shock 1945 election result when Labour's Clement Attlee scored a resounding victory over wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.

"It was an absolute shock which reverberated throughout the world," he explains. "Then came Labour's struggle to build the New Jerusalem. The UK was totally different in those days - all-white and very impoverished. There was a lot of idealism and optimism - the sense that the world could be built anew."

Following weeks look at the 1950s and the consumer boom, and then Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, the Winter of Discontent and the Three-Day Week.

"It's an extraordinary story, but because we've lived through it, sometimes we don't realise quite how extraordinary it's been," Andrew says. "And I make some quite tough judgements about individuals and about policies."

And if anyone is qualified to judge, it's Andrew, who during his five years as political editor of the Beeb and more recently on Sunday AM, has interviewed an array of heavyweight names. Asked to pick out the most memorable he struggles.

"There's no doubt it would be the big players - Brown and Blair in particular. Interviewing them is always difficult, always fascinating. I've cross-questioned Bush in press conferences and I was able to question both Ariel Sharon and Yassar Arafat on the same day a few miles apart, and find both equally wildly incoherent and angry. That was interesting. In terms of the Sunday AM show, we've had fantastic people. But I won't rest until I've had Bob Dylan reviewing the papers. Unfortunately I don't think he's given an interview to a journalist since the early 1970s."

When he's not working, he's relaxing with his political journalist wife Jackie Ashley and their three children.

Although he has a bit of an intellectual reputation, he happily admits to liking culture of the more popular variety.

"I watch a lot of the big TV series like Desperate Housewives, 24 and Life On Mars," he says. "I listen to music on my iPod although I'm not that into current bands, I'm just too much of an old git."

So what's next for Andrew, surely one of the busiest men in political journalism?

"A break please!" he sighs. "A bit of time off - I'm really looking forward to that!"

Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain starts on Tuesday at 9pm on BBC Two. The accompanying book is published by Macmillan, priced £25