Always under Pressure

Malcolm Falkus has written a history of North Thames Gas from nationalization in 1949 until privatization in 1986. It was a period which saw the industry change out of all recognition, from a position in the 1950s where its very survival seemed threatened, to its emergence in the 1970s as Britain’s foremost energy industry. In this process the Area Boards and Regions played a fundamental part and, in turn, their own role within the industry changed dramatically. The book includes detailed treatment of the following: the origins of North Thames Gas; the change from coal to oil-based manufacture and then to natural gas from the North Sea; the conversion of customers to natural gas and the acquisition of a new headquarters in the mid-1970s. This is the first substantial history of a gas Board and Region. It is non-technical and accessible to the general reader. The author taught for many years at the London School of Economics. He has published several books and numerous articles, including some on the gas industry.