Callum G. Brown is Professor of Late Modern European History at the University of Glasgow. A social historian specialising in secularisation and Humanism in nineteenth and twentieth century western society, he is the author of numerous publications including The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation 1800–2000 (2nd edition, 2009), Religion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularisation in Canada, Ireland, UK and USA Since the 1960s (2012) and Becoming Atheist: Humanism and the Secular West (2017).

• Part I. The Battle in Context: 1. Introduction; Part II. The Heyday of Christian Vigilance 1945–1965: 2. Moral vigilance; 3. Licensing at the front line: London and Blackpool; 4. Licensing in the provinces: Sheffield, Glasgow and Lewis; 5. Battle at the Beeb part I; Part III. The Sixties Crisis and its Legacy, 1965–1980: 6. The privatisation of moral vigilance; 7. The sixties liberalisation of licensing; 8. The Humanist challenge; 9. Battle at the Beeb part II; Part IV. Conclusion: 10. The birth of civilised Britain.

'Grounded in meticulous archival research, Callum G. Brown's insightful historical explication is a vital contribution to understanding the how and why of contemporary non-religion. Brown expertly demonstrates why it is important for all of us interested in non-religion to pay careful attention to the historical forces that shape the present.' Lori G. Beaman, University of Ottawa