Latest news with #Keighley
Telegraph
16 hours ago
- General
- Telegraph
The historian who worked so hard it nearly broke him
The historian Asa Briggs apparently aimed to write 1,500 publishable words a day and liked to be working on at least three books at any one time. His Stakhanovite labours included some 45 books, countless reviews, reports, forewords and encyclopaedia entries, unstinting service on countless committees, presenting many lecture series and chairing numerous learned societies. Not to mention a five-volume history of the BBC and the text for a volume of Brooke Bond Tea picture cards. Though his career is not often celebrated today, his life, as Adam Sisman 's measured but compelling biography makes plain, was both busy and remarkable. It also came at a cost: the very drive that fuelled his output later became a burden, as writing turned from joy to compulsion. Briggs was born in Keighley in 1921, a grammar school boy raised above a grocer's shop in what he would later call 'modest comfort'. His upbringing was imbued with the northern, nonconformist virtues of hard work, discipline and self-reliance, values he never ceased to embody, even after acquiring grand houses, a peerage and a taste for haute cuisine. (As well as becoming president of the Workers' Education Association, the William Morris Society, the Victorian Society, the Ephemera Society and the Brönte Society, Briggs was also a founding member of the British Academy of Gastronomes.) He started degrees at Cambridge and LSE, concurrently, at just 16, taking firsts from both of them. By 1942, at 21, he was working at Bletchley Park. Not long after the war, he was teaching at Worcester College, Oxford, where his pupils included a young Rupert Murdoch. Briggs's professional trajectory, as Sisman puts it, was a story of 'spectacular success'. Vice-Chancellor of Sussex, Chancellor of the Open University, Provost of Worcester, and eventually Lord Briggs of Lewes, he scaled and conquered the post-war academic establishment with dizzying speed and unwavering determination. But though he had a knack for cultivating useful friendships and influencing people, his success did not endear him to everyone. His jet-setting lifestyle led colleagues to dub him 'Professor Heathrow', while the acerbic Hugh Trevor-Roper liked to joke, 'What is the difference between The Lord and The Lord Briggs? The Lord is always with us.' Sisman, an acclaimed biographer – including of Trevor-Roper, and John le Carré, whose serial affairs he revealed to the world in 2015 – is ideally suited to the job. He's a writer highly attuned to the niceties, sensitivities and indeed the hypocrisies of the British class system and of academic life, a complex terrain which he traverses smoothly. He is also, as he freely admits, necessarily selective: a 'comprehensive' life, he writes, would 'require at least a decade to write' and 'several volumes'. At a little over 400 pages, The Indefatigable Asa Briggs is more than enough: what emerges is a sharply sketched figure, part whirlwind, part workaholic, part Victorian relic. Briggs's scholarship roamed far beyond the confines of traditional historical research. He was a pioneer of labour history, urban history, local history, business history and the history of communications. But this breadth was also a liability: as AJP Taylor once remarked of The Age of Improvement 1783–1867 (1959), that cursed book inflicted upon generations of British schoolchildren, he was 'a veritable Lysenko of verbiage, making three sentences grow where one would do'. (Victorian People (1955) and Victorian Cities (1963) are much more focused and better reads; the BBC volumes remain his most significant, if not uniformly admired, contribution to original research.) He was also not always reliable. As Sisman writes, Briggs often accepted commissions he could not fulfil: some he abandoned entirely; others he completed only under duress, to vastly differing standards. In the final decades of his life, the compulsion turned to torment: Sisman notes a growing detachment in the later works, as deadlines loomed and standards slipped. For a richly researched biography, Briggs's private life remains curiously opaque. There were entanglements with various women, Sisman notes, though he refrains from going into more details – a curious obscurity, given the le Carré book. Briggs met his wife Susan when she worked as his research assistant. She later remarked that love 'was never part of it', but somehow the marriage endured: she had affairs, while together they climbed the social ladder. There's a faint Pooterish air once Briggs reaches the top: letters of complaint to travel agents and cashiers; luncheon with the Queen; and a dinner at Bletchley Park, late in his life, served by the finalists of Celebrity MasterChef. For all the accounting of Briggs's frenetic activity, though, there's a strange hollowness at the centre of the book: we get no sense of Briggs's interior life. Perhaps there was none: he may have been too busy or too distracted. 'Greedy', one of Sisman's sources, an unnamed historian, calls him. If so, it wasn't just greed for money – though he made plenty – as much as for the role of the historian to become a kind of public institution. Sisman's biography is dry-eyed but humane and honours the labour without overstating the legacy. It amounts to a portrait of a man who, like Victorian Britain, Briggs's great subject, believed that more was more – and who, like that age, left behind an awful lot, some of it brilliant, some of it best forgotten. ★★★★☆
BBC News
19 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Dalton Mills security plea from Keighley Civic Society after latest fire
Calls for an historic mill complex to be protected against future arson attacks have been repeated by the local civic than 20 fire engines were at the scene of the latest fire at the Grade II listed Dalton Mills in Keighley on Saturday from the fire also damaged the roof of Keighley Bus Museum and police said the blaze was now being treated and being site is "ownerless" but the Crown Estate is responsible for selling it under escheat, an ancient law, but said it has no legal responsibility for its upkeep. Emmerson Walgrove, chair of Keighley Civic Society, said: "Keighley cannot lose this important building. "It is now up to those responsible to organise better security, better surveillance, to ensure another major fire like this does not happen again."He said stakeholders including Bradford Council and the Crown Estate should ensure that the site is properly protected. He said: "Dalton Mills is a jewel in Keighley which needs protecting and restoring." A significant proportion of the site, which featured in Peaky Blinders, was destroyed by a major fire in 2022, leading to two teenage boys being arrested and later found guilty of has since been the subject of numerous smaller fires and vandalism. The Crown Estate said it was not able to take any action that might be construed as an "act of management, possession or ownership" in relation to a property under escheat. This included undertaking repairs or carrying out remedial work as in doing this it may incur liabilities associated with the spokesman said local authorities had powers under the Building Act 1984 to make dangerous buildings and structures Alex Ross-Shaw, from Bradford Council, said: "We're all devastated at the latest fire at Dalton Mills and share the frustration of the public who want to see this much-loved heritage asset restored to its former glory. "However, (it) is incorrect to say Bradford Council has the responsibility to make the site secure. "We have been supporting efforts to move the site into local private ownership from the Crown Estate and have worked closely with potential owners to help facilitate this. "Given the importance of the site to Keighley and the wider community, we have worked with Historic England to try secure some of the more exposed areas of the site on a meanwhile basis."The Crown Estate took over the Victorian building after the previous owner went bankrupt and gave up the deeds after a restoration project collapsed. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Crews remain at Dalton Mills in Keighley after fire
Fire crews are still at the scene of a major blaze at a derelict textile mill in West Yorkshire which also affected a nearby erupted at the Grade II-listed Dalton Mills in Keighley on Saturday with embers from the fire also damaging the roof of Keighley Bus the height of the fire on Saturday afternoon more than 20 fire engines were at the scene though no casualties were Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said two crews remained at the scene and were "checking for hotspots and damping down". Peaky Blinders It has not yet been revealed how the fire started. Dalton Mills, which has been used in TV dramas such as Downton Abbey and Peaky Blinders, was previously hit by a fire in 2022 which led to two teenage boys being charged with arson. The bus museum, which is home to 130 vehicles, has cancelled all events for the foreseeable museum chairman said on Sunday that its vehicles were "not so badly affected" with the damage mainly confined to the roof. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former fireman helped to save beloved museum as mill fire broke out
AN ex-fireman used a vintage fire engine to tackle a blaze that spread from Keighley's Dalton Mills to a beloved museum. Firefighters battled from day to night amid efforts to contain the fire which broke out at the derelict mill. But embers from the mill fire had blown onto the roof and set nearby Keighley Bus Museum alight. Volunteers were left fearful for the museum, just off Dalton Lane, which holds a huge collection of buses dating back to 1924, as well as cars, vans, and boats. Fire at Dalton Mills (Image: Melody Pugh, Milo74, Paul Whitehead and Newsquest) Museum volunteer Mick Gissing, 56, stood on a forklift truck and used pumps from the engine owned by Haworth Fire Cadets, which is stored at the museum. Mick's quick actions and the diversion of some of the 999 crews from the mill to the museum meant there was little damage to the vehicles inside. The team at the museum had to wait behind a cordon before being allowed into the building on Sunday morning to survey the damage. The roof then had to be dampened down as it started to smoulder again. While damage to the collection was kept to a minimum, the museum now needs a new roof due to extensive damage. Peter Cribbin, Simon Waye and Andrew Haley, pictured (Image: Submitted) Former firefighter Mick, who is from Long Lee, said: 'I'd like to thank all the volunteers at the museum. They all worked extremely hard to keep the flames at bay by getting the hose reel out and helping me get water to the roof. "My former colleagues ultimately saved the bus museum through their quick response and actions.' People can donate to the fundraising page by visiting Offers of practical help can also be made by emailing board@ Andrew Haley, director of security and building at Keighley Bus Museum Trust, said: 'We are so grateful to Mick and the fire service for saving our building and collection. It has been a stressful and emotional day or so but the whole team has rallied around, and we've had the support of our local councillors. Mick with the Haworth Cadets' fire engine (Image: Submitted) 'We need to protect our vehicles, which are part of our local and social history. 'If anyone is able to help in our hour of need by giving a small amount, it'll all add up and hopefully help us to refurbish the roof to make sure our wonderful collection is protected from the elements. 'Smouldering plastic and bits of roof fell inside the building and everything is looking a bit charred and sooty, so we need a good clean-up too. 'All in all, we were very lucky that only a boat and a bus seat were slightly damaged by falling embers and there was no further damage. It's a miracle." A file photo shows some of the buses kept within the museum Have events at Keighley Bus Museum been cancelled? Andrew added: 'We have a lovely collection of vehicles here, owned by all sorts of people, and we get thousands of people through the doors for our free family open days. 'We've had to cancel the next one in August but we're hoping we can clear up in time to hold the one after that in November. Any support people can give us would be greatly appreciated.'
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Fire at Peaky Blinders' Dalton Mills damages Keighley Bus Museum
Firefighters were continuing to tackle a blaze at a derelict textile mill on Sunday morning as it emerged the flames had also caused damage to the nearby Keighley Bus the height of the fire on Saturday afternoon more than 20 fire engines were sent to Dalton Mills, with six engines and two aerial ladder platforms remaining at the scene on Sunday, West Yorkshire Fire Service 19th Century Grade II listed mill building has featured in TV dramas Peaky Blinders and Downton museum chairman Norman Shepherd said embers from the mill fire had damaged the museum's roof, but none of its vehicles had been badly affected. A major clean-up operation was under way, he added. He said: "The damage is mainly to the roof. Some embers from the mill fire landed on our roof, but luckily it hasn't all come in."It's now just wet and mucky. When we came in this morning the buses were swimming in it."There's a lot of work and cleaning up to do, but the vehicles are not so badly affected."Keighley Bus Museum is home to 130 vehicles, including old buses, cars, police and fire vehicles. The museum took possession of the building in February has cancelled all events for the foreseeable future. No casualties have been reported as a result of the blaze, but a fire service spokesperson asked people to "please avoid the area".Dalton Mills was destroyed in a major fire in 2022, leading to two teenage boys being arrested and charged with MP Robbie Moore said it was "absolutely infuriating" to see another serious fire at the said: "It is unknown at this stage what has caused the fire or if anyone has been injured - but should any investigations conclude that arsonists are yet again involved, they should expect the full force of the law to hit them hard."This current situation simply cannot continue."Dalton Mills is a jewel within Keighley which needs protection and restoration." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
