Interviews Conducted by Michael Ignatieff for His Biography of Berlin


No part of these recordings should be posted elsewhere without permission from the Trustees of the Isaiah Berlin Literary Trust, who own the copyright in the interviews with IB, or from the literary heirs of the other interviewees, who jointly own the copyright in those interviews, and who kindly gave permission to include on this site the material they control (with the one exception noted at the foot of this page).

The recordings of most interviews are linked to from their number. The original recordings were made on analogue cassette tapes. Where both sides of a cassette were used, and separately digitised, the digitised files are identified as A and B. The quality of the recordings is variable and sometimes very poor. Imperfect transcripts are here. From time to time corrections are made in the transcripts, which may affect their pagination, and make published references inaccurate.




A. Interviews with Berlin

1 | 20 October 1988
2 | 20 October 1988
3 | 27 September 1990
4A | 4B | 27 October 1988
5A | 5B | 18 March 1989
6A | 6B | 30 November 1988
7A | 7B | 8 February 1994
8 | 14 December 1988
9 | 23 December 1994
10A | 10B | 13 December 1988

See also 20 for more on Oxford in the 1930s

11A | 11B | 18 June 1989
12A | 12B | 12 March 1994
13 | 7 May 1991
14A | 14B | 4 January 1989
15A | 15B | 7 March 1990
16 | 23 March 1989
17 | 10 January 1997

Not an interview: an explanatory monologue for MI

18A | 18B | 5 April 1989
19 | 5 July 1994
20A | 20B | 30 January 1989
21A | 21B | 30 January 1989
22A | 22B | 11 October 1989
23A | 23B | 29 April 1989
24A | 24B | 5 June 1994
25 | 21 February 1989
26 | 29 November 1989
27A | 27B | 18 May 1989
28A | 28B | 13 April 1989
29 | 8 November 1989
30 | 8 June 1989
31 | 21 July 1989
32 | 1 November 1990
33 | 29 April 1991



B. Interviews with others

Interviewee Date
B1 Aline Berlin 20 November 1989 [The recording is unavailable.]
B2 Mary Bennett 1 February 1994
B3 Shiela Sokolov Grant 20 November 1989
B4 Stuart Hampshire 20 November 1989
B5A | B5B Jenifer and Herbert Hart (part1) 7 November 1989
B6A | B6B Jenifer and Herbert Hart (part 2) 7 November 1989
B7A | B7B William Hayter 28 April 1994
B8A Stephen Spender (side A) 16 October 1989
B8B Stephen Spender (side B) 16 October 1989
B9A Bernard Williams (part 1, side A) 21 November 1990
B9B Bernard Williams (part 1, side B) 21 November 1990
B10 Bernard Williams (part 2) 21 November 1990