Sancho

I thought everyone here would know this, but apparently not. There have only been about eight thousand views. Anyway, for what it's worth, here is it. It's not only illuminating but also, I think, extraordinarily prescient -

Plan B

A very good and clear summation of the current position.

ononno

He forgets to mention in his excellent first 5 or 6 minutes that I watched the very important 'Non' of De Gaulle, which of course increased the desire of the British Government to join.

Sancho

I don't think he forgets to mention it. He says that Britain's application in 1963, which is when De Gaulle is supposed to have said "Non", was vetoed. but that is just hood style. That story, which would surely have been well-known to his audience, would have been boring after the startling Bevin quote, which most of them would probably not have known, and would have added nothing at all to the lecture. Incidentally, do you think it's true, or was the "Non" just a British media paraphrase of what they imagined a caricature De Gaulle saying ? Any evidence ? Is there a recording, for example ?

philat98

Sancho

Thanks for that. I do speak French - I worked in Senegal for a long time - but I'd never heard a recording of De Gaulle and I didn't realise how well he spoke the language. Anyway, if that's the closest that exists to the reported "Non" then it seems to support my suspicion that perhaps the "Non" was a paraphrase, or a travesty, or at best a simplification in the British media of what he actually said. It's easy to think of reasons why they would travesty it.

ononno

Ive just watched this recording again for the first time in many years. He in fact is explaining very clearly all the reasons that the UK should not be joining the Common Market as it then was, and his vision of a United Continental Europe.
I-ve always been a fan of De Gaulle, and love his famous -mes enfants- speech to the pieds noirs in Algeria during the war of independence.

Geordieborn

I would have thought the net would have a transcription in French of this for people who can to read, if of course there is any correct transcript

Geordieborn

I would have thought the net would have a transcription in French of this for people who can to read, if of course there is any correct transcript