20th April 1968: Enoch Powell delivers his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech on immigration

20th April 1968: Enoch Powell delivers his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech on immigration

From HistoryPod by Scott Allsop

April 20, 2026

About this episode

The episode discusses Enoch Powell's controversial 'Rivers of Blood' speech delivered on April 20, 1968, focusing on immigration and its implications for social tension in Britain.

Powell argued that continued immigration would create social tension in Britain, illustrating his argument with a quotation from the Roman poet Virgil describing a vision of “the River Tiber foaming with much ...

People in this episode

Host: Scott Allsop

Topics covered

  • immigration
  • social tension
  • political speech
  • history
  • Enoch Powell
  • Virgil

Keywords

  • Enoch Powell
  • Rivers of Blood
  • immigration
  • social tension
  • Virgil
  • political speech
  • history

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Rivers of Blood

Places: Britain, River Tiber

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