Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 when Britain still claimed an empire and kids played on bomb sites in the wake of the Second World War. Seventy years on, her reign has come to an end and the UK is a vastly changed place.

How did we get from there to here in a single reign? To cancel culture, anti-vaxxers and Twitter feeds? Author and journalist Matthew Engel, author of The Reign: Life in Elizabeth's Britain, Part I: The Way It Was, 1952–79 tells the story – starting with the years from Churchill to Thatcher – with his own light touch and a wealth of fascinating, forgotten and often funny detail.

In conversation with the journalist and Prospect Contributing Editor, Tom Clark.