The House of Windsor is falling down (and we should let it)

06 Apr 2004

Final vote: 87 For, 239 Against

The debate took place at: Royal Geographical Society, Ondaatje Theatre.

Speaker bios correct on date of event.

Speakers for the motion:

Dr Piers Brendon: Born in Cornwall and read History at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He did a Ph.D. on the Oxford Movement, which was later published. He has written a dozen books, including Hawker of Morwenstow (Pimlico), Eminent Edwardians (Pimlico), Winston Churchill: A Brief Life (Pimlico) and The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s (Cape and Pimlico). His first tract on the monarchy, Our Own Dear Queen (Secker), appeared in 1986. Brendon contributes widely to the national press, gives frequent lectures and often participates in radio and television programmes. He provided four minutes' worth of republican "balance" on David Dimbleby's marathon BBC TV programme covering the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Brendon writes for television and contributes to many historical documentaries, most recently ITV's three-part series "Churchill". He was consultant and script editor for ITV's four-part film "The Windsors", nominated for a Royal Television Society Award and several times repeated since 1994. He was co-author of the book of the series, also called The Windsors, with its producer Phillip Whitehead, re-issued by Pimlico in 2000. Brendon also wrote the scripts of two documentaries based on his book The Dark Valley. They were called "The World We Lost" and "Did We Have to Fight?" and were shown by Channel 4 to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. Brendon was for six years Keeper of the Churchill Archives Centre and he is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. He is currently writing a history of the British Empire.

Professor Roy Greenslade: Media commentator for The Guardian and Professor of Journalism, City University, London. He is the former Sub-Editor of numerous newspapers including the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, the Daily Mail, The Sun, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror. He was the Deputy Chief Sub-Editor at The Sun and a former Reporter for BBC Radio Brighton. He became an Undergraduate at Sussex University in 1976 where he received First Class Hons. in Politics. He was the Features Production Editor for the Daily Express; Features Editor for the Daily Star; Assistant Editor at The Sun (1981-86); Managing Editor (News), Sunday Times (1987-90); Editor, Daily Mirror (1990-91); Consultant Editor, Today & Sunday Times (1991) and Freelance Writer for The Guardian, The Times, the Evening Standard and The Observer (1992-94). He was Media Commentator for The Guardian and a Presenter on BBC Radio 4's Medium wave (1996-98). He has an Honorary Doctorate for services to journalism. He became a Professor of Journalism at City University in 2003 and is the author of "Goodbye to the working class", "Maxwell's Fall" and "Press Gang: How Newspapers make profits from propaganda".

Lord Roy Hattersley: Politician turned writer. He was elected to Parliament in 1964 and served in each of Harold Wilson's Governments and in Jim Callaghan's cabinet. In 1983 he became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. He has written Endpiece, his guardian column, for 23 years. As well as contributing to the Daily Mail, the Observer and The Times he has written 16 books. He has been Visiting Fellow of Harvard's Institute of Politics and of Nuffield College, Oxford. In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal society of Literature. Roy Hattersley received a peerage in the 1997 dissolution Honour's List but uses the title only in matters concerning the House of Lords.

Speakers against the motion:

Peter Hitchens: Author, columnist for the Mail on Sunday, a frequent if irregular broadcaster and contributor to British and American magazines - including the Spectator, the New Statesman, Prospect, The National Interest and the American Conservative.

Penny Junor: Writer and broadcaster She has been writing about and commenting on the royal family for over 20 years and is the author of best-selling biographies of both the Prince and the Princess of Wales, and two British Prime Ministers. For many years she presented The Travel Show on BBC2, and Channel 4`s consumer programme For What It's Worth. She is married with four children and lives in Wiltshire.

The Rt Hon The Lord St. John of Fawsley, PC: Conservative MP for Chelmsford from 1964-87. Lord St John has held the offices of Minister for State for Education and Minister of State for the Arts, Leader House of Commons and Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster. Former Master Emmanuel College Cambridge; Chairman Royal Fine Art Commission Trust. He is a regular commentator on television and radio.

Chair: Martyn Lewis One of Britain's best-known broadcasters. In the course of over thirty years as a reporter and newscaster he anchored all of the mainstream news programmes on British television. Since he left television news four years ago, Martyn has set up an Anglo-American company, Teliris, to develop a revolutionary new system, which enables people thousands of miles apart to meet as though they were sitting in the same room. Martyn is also Vice-President of the three main national hospice charities and founder and chairman of YouthNet UK - Britain's biggest online service for young people.