Prestigious line-up of speakers as Buckingham History Festival returns

Following the successful and well-attended first Buckingham History Festival in 2019, many people have asked when it would return, but Covid prevented the event from going ahead last year and the year before.

The festival, run by the University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute, will take place at the Vinson Centre, on Hunter Street, and the Radcliffe Centre, on Church Street, from Friday to Sunday, October 7 to 9.

Telegraph columnist and course director of the university’s MA in 20th Century History, Simon Heffer, will be in conversation with Michael Gove about The Diaries of ‘Chips’ Channon.

Other notable speakers include the former editor of The Times and the Times Literary Supplement, Peter Stothard, on Crassus: Rome’s Richest Man, and historian Jane Ridley, course director of the university’s MA in Biography, on George V and the Creation of the Modern Monarchy.

Writer and former journalist Lucy Ward will unveil an extraordinary story of Enlightenment ideals, female leadership and the fight to promote science over superstition, when she talks about Catherine the Great’s Vaccination Campaign.

In a wide-ranging talk entitled Edward VIII, Lord Mountbatten and Censorship, the acclaimed biographer and historian Andrew Lownie will examine the controversial and contentious lives of two of the most prominent members of the royal family in the 20th century.

Prof John Adamson, director of the Humanities Research Institute, said: "Buckingham History Festival presents Britain's leading professional historians - fine communicators who are also great scholars, not simply writers about the past.

"It is for everyone who has an intelligent interest in history, staged in the beautiful market town of Buckingham.

"It is entirely free of period costume, battle re-enactments and morris dancers. It does offer great speakers, new historical discoveries and exciting ideas."

Other speakers include Daisy Dunn, Eleanor Parker, Fitzroy Morrissey, Frances Spalding, Gavin Mortimer, Helen Thompson, James Fox, James G Clark, Jessie Childs, Malcom Gaskill, Martyn Rady, Peter Heather, Peter H Wilson, Robert Harris, Robert Lynam and Ruth Scurr.

Find the full programme of events and book tickets here.