A.J.P. Taylor in Budapest at a TV interview in 1985
In addition to his academic work, Taylor had a significant broadcasting career, writing for newspapers, and appearing on radio and television. The first ‘Telly-Don,’ Taylor was a pioneer in the broadcasting of history on TV and his lectures, delivered without notes, were very popular. Here is Taylor appearing on TV in Hungary. The inscription on the reverse of this photograph reads ‘Alan in Budapest TV interview 1985.’
![Typewritten script on A4 sheet of paper. Text reads: A.J.P.TAYLOR HOW WARS BEGIN No. 5. Music: Sinfonia/L Requiem Op 2O/ 1. Lachrymosa (Benjamin Britten) Ladies and gentlemen.[Ladies and gentlemen has been crossed out with blue ink] The problem with the Second World war is not so much how did it begin but when did it begin. The Second World War was not some precise, sudden event like the First. The First World War as we now call is perfectly simple as a beginning. In July, 1914 all the great powers were at peace and a month later at the beginning of August, -1914, bang, they were all at war, and you can really describe that,- as I have tried to do , in terms of a week or a month at most. But the Second World War, exactly when did it become a Second World War [Second world war has been crossed out with blue pen]. World war.[The full stop has been changed to a question mark, in blue ink] When in fact exactly did it become a war at all? Suppose you said right [‘right’ has been crossed out with blue ink and the word ‘that’ is written above it] a declaration of war indicates that the world war has started, well [well has been crossed out with blue ink]then you would have to go back to April,1932 when Mao Tse-Tung [the ‘T’ of ‘Tung’ has been corrected to a lower case t] and Tehu Te [‘Tehu Te’ has been crossed out in blue ink and the correction ‘Chu Teh’ has been written in the margins] declared war on Japan in the name of the Kiangse [the ‘e’ at the end of ‘Kiangse’ has been crossed out] Soviet, That wouldn’t do. [‘That wouldn’t do’ has been crossed out in blue ink] I suppose for [‘I suppose’ has been crossed out and the ‘f’ of ‘for’ has been capitalised]the Abyssinians it started in 1935. For the Spanish Republicans it started in 1936 , [the comma after ‘1936’ has been corrected to a semi-colon] for the Czechs [a comma has been added after ‘Czechs’] even though they were defeated without an actual war, it started in 1938. For us English people it started I suppose [‘I suppose’ has been crossed out] on the 3rd [‘the’ and ‘rd’ of ‘3rd’have been crossed out] September, 1939 [a full stop has been added here]. And indeed [‘And’ has been removed and ‘indeed’ has been capitalised]I was once mistaken enough to write a book called The Origins of the Second World War which worked up to the 3rd September [‘the’ and ‘rd’ of ‘3rd’have been crossed out], 1939 which was [‘which was’ has been crossed out] the day Great Britain declared war on Germany, [the comma after ‘Germany’ has been changed to a full stop]and in [‘and’ has been crossed out and the ‘I’ in ‘in’ has been capitalised] my last paragraph I realised had been written [‘written’ has been corrected to ‘writing’] on the wrong subject because I finished up by saying: 'What I have described is the origins of a minor conflict in Europe, the effects of which have been lost without trace and were only a preliminary to the great [‘great’ has been crossed out] real world conflict which came later."](https://twomagdalenhistorians.magd.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/P310.2.MS8_.4_02-scaled.jpg)
Post-production script of How Wars Begin: The Second World War (episode 5)
A large part of Taylor’s fame was due to his many appearances on radio and television. Between June and August 1977, he presented a 6-episode series called How Wars Begin for the BBC. The programme, 30 minutes in length, had a minimal set and consisted of Taylor speaking directly to camera. He delivered his lectures without the aid of notes. This post-production script was produced for the ease of the producers editing the programme. However, this particular copy belonged to Taylor. Throughout the script, he has written minor changes and crossings out. Comparing this document with Taylor’s book How Wars Begin, published in 1979, it is evident that Taylor used this script to perfect the text for the book’s publication.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD
In the 1960s, as a student at Brasenose College, Michael Palin attended A. J. P. Taylor’s lectures. They clearly made an impression on Palin. Monty Python and the Holy Grail includes a scene with ‘A Famous Historian,’ filming a documentary on Arthurian legends. The historian, wearing Taylor’s trademark bow tie, is killed by a passing knight on horseback.
BBFC Letter regarding the classification of Monty Python and the Holy Grail
This letter from Stephen Murphy, of the British Board of Film Classification, offers advice about the Monty Python and the Holy Grail script. If the Pythons hoped to be given an ‘A’ rating, they would need to do something about their use of gore and bad language. Murphy refers to a scene with A. J. P. Taylor as ‘really too bloody.’ That Murphy directly names Taylor suggests that the original script used his name; that somewhere down the line, a decision was made to anonymise the character to ‘A Famous Historian.’