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Aged Premiers

With the next US President likely to be an octogenarian, what lessons can be learned from history's leaders in their eighties?

If Donald Trump is elected to a second term as President of the United States he would be 82 at the end, if Joe Biden is re-elected he would be 86. Age has become a campaign weapon. How effective have the octogenarian leaders of the past been shown to be?

One was William Ewart Gladstone who was Prime Minister four times, the last when he was 82. Dr Ruth Windscheffel Head of Teaching and Learning Enhancement at York St John University and author and editor of a number of books and articles about Gladstone discusses how his advanced age affected his final administration.

Emperor Gordian I acceded to Rome's Imperial throne in 238 AD in his early eighties. Dr James Corke-Webster is Reader in Classics, History and Liberal Arts at King's College London. He discusses with Jonathan Freedland the events surrounding Gordian's rise to power in ancient Rome's most turbulent year.

Reader: Josh Bryant-Jones

Producer: Harry Parker

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28 minutes

Last on

Fri 5 Jan 2024 21:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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  • The Long View

    History series in which stories from the past shed light on current events