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Britain's long and stored history with Europe is certainly a troubled one. Indeed, ever since Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet fathered the concept of a political union between European nations, based on a desire to keep peace in the continent, British scholars and commoners alike have been at loggerheads as to what Britain's role in it should be. It is a debate that has erupted since Britain's initial entry into the former EEC in 1972, and it still rages on four decades on, undeterred by the collapses of governments brought on by its discussion.

However, the primary argument over Europe seems to boil down to one night in British history. June 5th 1975 - the date on which Britain voted to leave the European Economic Community.

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"I was a relatively new introduction to political presenting when I chaired the referendum results: indeed, I'd only presented the first of many Panorama programmes in late 1974. However, nothing in my four decades of doing so has brought me more infamy than that fateful night.

When I realised at around 3am on the 6th that we would be leaving the EEC after all, I was convinced that reality had truly hoodwinked me. Exit polling had indicated a very different result; Yes looked set for an overwhelming victory at 11pm the previous evening. I furrowed my brow, and cast a glance at David Butler, the famed political scientist and a man more acquainted with this sort of programme than I. His response was equally as incredulous as mine. I knew that I had to be stoic in my delivery, just as my father had been thirty years prior on VE Day as a BBC correspondent. I steadied myself and provided a delivery that will forever rank in the echelons of British history."

~ an excerpt from "David Dimbleby: A Career Retrospective", a programme aired on Radio 4 upon his retirement from broadcasting in December 2018.

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BBC One

3:43am

EEC Referendum Night '75

Dimbleby: "The decision taken by Edward Heath three years ago to enter Britain into the Common Market has been reversed by the British people in what appears to be an overwhelming majority of at least 60% to 40%, if current figures are to be maintained in the results yet to come."

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In the forty-three years since Britain's decision to leave the European Economic Community, we have seen a plethora of Prime Ministers and governments come and go, each of them falling to the sword as they bemoan the fatal question:

"HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE EUROPE?"

A Retrospective Look at British History, Culture and Political Parties since 1975.
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