Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Stellar line-up at the first major festival to take us out of Covid
Amid the beauty of the Wiltshire countryside, the Chalke Valley History Festival is attracting a host of famous faces. PHILIP Bowern looks ahead to this year’s event which will be among the first major festivals to lead the way out of coronavirus restrict
HISTORY, someone once said, is just one damn thing after another. But the Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival, which takes place in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside not far from Salisbury, is much more than a collection of dates and facts.
This year the event, held in Broad Chalke in the beautiful valley of the River Ebble, takes place from Wednesday June 23 to Sunday June 27. The very first festival was held in 2011 to raise funds for the local village cricket club.
This year it celebrates its tenth anniversary, and the stellar line-up of speakers shows how much the festival has grown in stature since those beginnings.
Playwright Tom Stoppard, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, historian and former newspaper editor Max Hastings and comedian Charlie Higson will be among the writers appearing at the festival.
It mixes intellectual talks with vintage fairground rides and offers music alongside comic turns on a historical theme. This year it also offers festival goers the chance to try their hand at everything from swordfighting to creating a wattle-anddaub wall as well as enjoying food, drink and shopping.
Festival chair and Second World War historian James Holland, who will be discussing his recent book about the allied invasion of Sicily – the first step in taking back Europe
challenges of the last year we’ve been able to produce a really inclusive and very wide-ranging programme that feels fresh, vibrant and fun. It will be midsummer, lockdown will be over, and I can’t wait to unleash this historical pageant.”
The speakers’ line-up runs through every day and into the evenings on two outdoor stages and inside two marquees. Living history displays, ranging from a Stone Age settlement, through a Roman March
are BBC journalist James Naughtie with a talk entitled On the Road: American Adventures from Nixon to Trump; former Lib Dem leader and coalition cabinet minister Vince Cable on the world leaders who changed economics; and ex-head of the British Secret Service Richard Dearlove, who with historian Stephen Alford will be discussing spying for Queen and country through the ages, from Tudor times to today.
Biographer Charles Moore is givcussed in a presentation by historian Guy Walters and chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.
History lessons in school were never like those offered by the History Tellers, Mr Abs and Mr Alex. The duo give snappy insights into major historical events, from the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty to the Dambusters Raid as well as longer shows, aimed particularly at the young.
Live music is promised every day and there is also a range of food offerings, with fine dining and street food, plus two bars.
Comedian and writer Charlie Higson, among the speakers at the last Chalke Valley History Festival in June 2019, is a huge fan as well as one of the speakers again for 2021.
He said of the festival: “Everyone is incredibly friendly and wants to share their knowledge. It is basically Glastonbury for nerds.”
Due to government guidelines, there may be restrictions on the number of people who can attend this year. Festival tickets, for individual events or the whole five days go on sale to the public from May 19.
Organisers urge those wishing to attend to book tickets early to avoid disappointment. All of the Outdoor Programme will be available on a single daily ticket (with add-ons for Sword School and fairground rides), and at a price that has been kept deliberately low.
Tented events will require an individual ticket, as was the case in the