Tony Benn's Free at Last and political history

This week, on Radio 4, Tony Benn is reading extracts from his diaries 1991-2001, entitled Free at Last. They are a joy to listen to and full of interesting political history and tidbit. Monday's programme is here, until the 20th and you can get the rest of the programmes from the Book of the Week website. The programme is on at 9.45-10.00am and repeated 12.30-12.45am, so you can catch Tuesday's programme this evening. You can also buy the book, Free at Last as a CD, which would work well mp3'd.
Either it is about getting older or I'm developing an interest in political history, I certainly enjoyed This Sceptred Isle, 1959-1979, covering the years before I was born and my first few years. I think that 1901-1919 and 1837-1900 would be an interesting part of history to learn more about. A time when big radical discoveries where being made and the main political parties in the UK defined themselves. Europe was also in turmoil and British power was at its height. See the notes on the BBC Sceptred Isle site for the late 1800s and the early 20th century. From this period Disraeli (biography from Victorianweb and Wikipedia) stands out as probably the most interesting political figure, certainly the most quotable. I particularily liked "It is much easier to be critical than to be correct" and "It destroys one's nerve to be amiable every day to the same human being".