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Strike Boy

Mark Watson was 10 when the 1984 miners' strike took over his life. Forty years on, he wants to know what really happened and how it changed his community - and this country.

Radio 4,10 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

1. Coal Dust in Our Veins
'We were the vanguard of the trade union movement, and we'd got to be eliminated.'
04 Mar 2024,15 mins
2. 'Scabs'
'You had to run the gauntlet and I were covered in spit and all sorts.'
05 Mar 2024,15 mins
3. Arthur and Maggie
'We'd been beaten by militancy before. We were not going to be beaten again.'
06 Mar 2024,15 mins
4. Flying Pickets
'I'm not saying I'm proud of what I did, but I reverted to guerrilla warfare.'
07 Mar 2024,15 mins,
5. Women against Pit Closures
'Oh, are you a feminist now?' 'No, I'm an ordinary housewife with a brain.'
08 Mar 2024,15 mins
6. Policing Pickets
"I weren't right happy. I mean, they threw bottles and stuff and bricks at us."
11 Mar 2024,15 mins
7. Battle-Weary
"He fetched truncheon down on the lad's top of his head. He went, whack! It haunts you."
12 Mar 2024,15 mins,
8. Defeat
"I were put in the lowest rated job, in the isolated part of the pit. We were victimised."
13 Mar 2024,15 mins,
9. An Era Ends
'It was one of the most awful decisions I had to make. But there was no other choice.'
14 Mar 2024,15 mins
10. Legacy
'Some of the mindset from the past is gone. It's smaller - my family comes first.'
15 Mar 2024,15 mins