On Wednesday night 49 members of the Bristol Branch of the HA turned up for David Edgerton’s myth busting lecture.  There was a little nail biting when his train was delayed but it was well worth the short delay.  His thesis that the UK was exceptional in 1900 but had ceased to be by 1945 and had become a normal European country before we entered the EEC in the 1970’s was skillfully developed.  A free trading Imperial Britain had imported a third of all its food and especially its meat and wheat in the 19^th century with large flour mills at every dock and chilled meat shipped from as far as Argentina.  We were also one of the largest exporters of energy with coal providing Lisbon’s Gas and fueling Argentina’s and Egypt’s railways. Our agricultural population had shrunk while our Empire had grown.  However, we still did more trade with Europe and the great British breakfast was made up of Danish bacon and Dutch eggs.  We were never just an Imperial economy.Another well established myth that “Britain stood alone in 1940” was challenged having only begun to be established in 1945 and become a commonplace by 1960’s. The role of the Commonwealth and Imperial countries in 1940 was key.  The Labour party not the Conservative party were presented as the great nationalist party by examining their manifesto of 1945 and their key policies.  Nationalised industries were presented as part of this economic nationalism.  In a very timely way Professor Edgerton looked at how the monarchy was redefined in 1952 with separate monarchies for Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth countries.  The transformation of UK agriculture from underdeveloped to self-sufficient between 1945 and 1970’s with the use of fertilisers and chemical pesticides led to the disappearance of the cargo ships carrying fresh beef from Argentina and other countries.  We were now self sufficient in wheat and meat so the Edwardian free trading docks were being wound down long before containerization.  The Britain Mrs Thatcher took control of in 1979 was not on its knees.  It had a modernized infrastructure (motorways, railways) an efficient Post Office and telephone system, a strong network of power stations, a modern housing stock including council housing.  The success story of “Thatcherism” was critiqued as a government not investing but sweating the economy.  Rates of growth were higher from 1945-73 compared with the 1980’s to 2000 and the inequality gap had fallen both in terms of income and regions in this post war period. Britain had become another European power not a weird exception. The contemporary arguments about Brexit versus Remain were an obvious conclusion to this excellent lecture.  Not unsurprisingly the questions came thick and fast from our audience and Professor Edgerton felt much of our present-day political system would need to change to recognize the needs of the younger generation. We must look to the see how much we had in common with other European countries who faced many of the same issues. A very thought provoking and lively meeting.