Chalke Hist Fest 4 – Thursday
It’s all become routine now – more or less six years without having camped and I’ve surprised myself by enjoying it! The warm showers and the Kiwi coffee van twenty metres away lures me out in the morning, a couple of protein ‘crisps’ and a Nakd bar providing the oomph.
The Second World War morning was packed with the great and the good of Aspects of History. Phil Craig and Rob Lyman kicking off with their exploration of 1945, selecting the highlights package from the former’s new tome centred around Indian Army (and their counterparts the Indian National Army under Subhas Chandra Bose) before Saul David followed up with more from the Indo-Pacific theatres, focusing in on events at Okinawa. Iain McGregor and nuclear physicist-turned-historian Frank Close then took on the stories behinds the atomic bombs. A bumper three-and-a-half hours, one not for the fainthearted.
In her second talk of the day, Helen Carr sped through the 14th century, finding her stride as she précised the downfall of Edward II, her portraits of his wife Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer, his favourites Gaveston and Despenser and the nobility adding colour and thrill. There was, in fact, too much to fit in, Richard II just squeezed in at the end – perhaps another event should have been booked to split up the political goings-on from her fascinating account of the Black Death.
Philipp Blom’s talk on his book Subjugate the Earth hinged on the idea that we have come full circle from the prehistoric animist notion of all things in nature possessing souls and the requirement to return to that – how bringing the earth under control is, perhaps, a relatively modern fad. Citing literary allusions from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the destruction of the cedar wood, the harmful formalising effects Enlightenment and Japanese philosophy, it was thought-provoking, despite the tendency of Vienna-based Blom to bypass the questions of Sarah Wilson and forge his own line of enquiry. Lofty subject matter indeed – sometimes too lofty.
To (another) grim reality and Kate Summerscale’s investigation of the murders at 10 Rillington Place, the trial and execution of Timothy Evans and the eventual discovery of Reg Christie’s as the actual serial killer. The author succeeded in evoking the noir and seediness of the immediate post-war, the backstreet abortions, casual sex work, early issues of immigration, unscrupulous journalists and the death penalty, pinpointing these talking points to the very doorstep of the peculiar killer who haunted the rundown streets near Ladbroke Grove. Eminently gory stuff in the pastoral idyll of Chalke…
Having enjoyed Michael Gove in interviews, his hour-long chat with Tim Shipman fell short of the mark. His half-arsed diplomatic attempts to remain friends, or at least project friendly terms, with the Camerons and the Johnsons was by no means the drama that, he insists, feeds the political discussion. There was also delusion from the start, comparing the travails of being a minister to being a soldier – his punchline being, as a soldier, one knows a fellow squaddie won’t stick an IED under you… selective memory from his checkered career.
Some of his other jokes failed to land, his Trump mention rousing a bit of a laugh when some rather lame bits about the President’s hair in an interview came up. That was the problem – there was little in the way of penetrating revelations. The former Cabinet stalwart doesn’t seem to budge on the decisions and steps he has made (antics after Brexit and Partygate) and that borders on delusion with belief in Badenoch and the claim that the Tories are still the most financially responsible party… Bear in mind, the pair on stage now work together at The Spectator and it felt too chummy at times.
Aspects of History can report that no substance appeared to be consumed on site despite Mr Gove’s recent return to journalism – perhaps he could have done with a little something to liven up this particular showing…
Zebedee Baker-Smith is Books Editor at Aspects of History. Head to the CHF site here.
