The evidence is out there somewhere. Melvyn Bragg, champion of the arts. At a recent party singing Twist and Shout with Cumbrian rock band Hardwicke Circus.

“It was the end of the evening,” Melvyn tells The Cumberland News . “I think Jonny [Hardwicke Circus singer Jonny Foster] has some photographs, unfortunately.”

Melvyn turned 76 this week. He remains fiercely energetic, and not only at parties.

The afternoon of his birthday was spent in a four-hour meeting about a new radio series.

And this week his 22nd novel was published. Now is the Time is set during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

The book is dedicated to Jimmie James, a former Spitfire pilot who became a history teacher at Wigton’s Nelson Thomlinson Grammar School.

The two remain friends. Jimmie was a huge influence on Melvyn. Although the full extent of that influence did not become apparent until Jimmie was interviewed earlier this year for the BBC documentary, Melvyn Bragg: Wigton to
Westminster .

Melvyn says: “I didn’t know until I did that film that he’d gone and persuaded my parents to keep me at school. My parents never told me that. Mr James never told me that.

“It changed the course of my life, maybe for better, maybe for worse. It gave me access to opportunities.

“Instead of going to Oxford I’d probably have gone into the factory, in an office because I’m no good with my hands. Then I’d have gone to night school, as some of my friends did. He was an amazingly good teacher. He instilled a passion that it mattered what these people had done.”

Now is the Time is based on events in the summer of 1381.

The plague had returned and a draconian poll tax was being widely evaded. Yet the 14-year-old King of England, Richard II, felt secure in his God-given right to reign.

A vast force of common people invaded London, led by former soldier Wat Tyler and radical preacher John Ball, demanding freedom and equality.

They confronted the king and briefly won the abolition of serfdom. But the Establishment closed in and crushed them.

“There’s very little written about that period of history,” says Melvyn. “It was an orphan of English history. It was taught on a wet Wednesday afternoon. If you blinked you missed it. It was the forerunner of the great revolts to come. It failed, but the action involved in its failure was spectacularly interesting.

“It was the first great trumpet warning from the beasts of burden.”

Inequality remains, as do protests against it. Melvyn feels the divide is not so wide as to incite the kind of violent protest seen in the 14th century.

“The circumstances have changed enormously. I can’t see half the population of Kent and Essex marching on London to get our wrongs righted.

“We have to face the fact that a lot of things have got a lot better. You could argue that some of the structures haven’t shifted. But people are better fed, clothed and homed, with more leisure time and more options. To argue against that is a bit silly.”

Now is the Time is not the first Melvyn Bragg novel to detail injustice against the common man, and woman.

He says this comes from his understanding of history rather than from personal experience.

“I was very fortunate. I was brought up in a democratic country. People of my background were given more opportunities than ever before.

“It didn’t stop me feeling that in the past there had been tremendous injustice. In the 14th century there were people who were to all intents and purposes slaves.

“I looked around me and saw there were inequalities. But they were far, far less than the inequalities there had been.

“When I was growing up there was no running water and no inside loo. But things were getting better.”

Things can only get better was once the theme tune of New Labour, under which Melvyn became Lord Bragg of Wigton when he was appointed to the House of Lords in 1998.

What does this Blarite make of Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour Party leader? “It was a bombshell,” he says. “I’m just waiting to see how it turns out.”

Could Corbyn’s Labour win a General Election?

“I really don’t know. We should give him six months and see what happens. He hasn’t sharpened up his policies yet.”

Melvyn is making two public appearances in Cumbria in the next few weeks. There’s a book launch in Carlisle this month. And on Thursday, November 12 he will host the first Cumbria Life Culture Awards at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.

“I like to play a part,” he says, “even though I’m far away most of the time.”

Now is the Time is published by Sceptre. Melvyn will be discussing the book at the Crown and Mitre Hotel, Carlisle, on Thursday, October 22 at 7.30pm. Tickets £8 from Bookends, Castle Street, Carlisle. Call 01228 529067.

Turn to page six for this week’s book review.