The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Sword: D-Day - Trial by Battle, by Max Hastings A new work by Max Hastings, éminence grise of military historians, is always an eagerly anticipated event. In recent years we have been treated to his brilliant accounts of Vietnam, the Dambusters raid (Chastise),...
CHF 2025: Day 5 UKRAINE: THE LATEST LIVE – WITH NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK, Oleksandra Matviichuk w. Francis Dearnley, Dominic Nicholls and Adelie Pojzman-Pontay The incredible team behind The Telegraph’s award-winning podcast were on stage to...
CHF 2025: Day 4 ENGLAND'S WARRIOR KINGS, Dan Jones and Helen Carr Dan Jones is tattooed geezer with a laddish sense of humour, Helen Carr is the brilliant granddaughter of EH Carr (What is History?) and superb guide to the 14 Century. Her first book, John of Gaunt,...
CHF 2025: Day 3 FROM UTMOST EAST TO UTMOST WEST: CONQUEST OF THE BLUE NILE, John Blashford-Snell JBS, as he is known, is up there with Rannulph Fiennes as a proper adventurer. King Charles is a fan and encouraged him to set up Operation Raleigh, a charity sending...
CHF 2025: Day 2 THERE AND BACK: DIARIES 1999-2009 Michael Palin moderated by Michael Neiberg Michael Palin is a national treasure, and he entertained a packed Guildhall tent to recollections from a life of adventure. He was keen to point out the difference between...
Chalke Hist Fest - Monday Driving through Fovant and past the Badges, we were all set for a sunny if gusty day. The roads seemed unusually busy for mid-afternoon in the Wiltshire villages. Quickly setting up tent on the flat top of the chalk down, the immaculate PVC...
CHF 2025: Day 1 Whoever gets first billing at Chalke sets the tone for the week-long festival. Last year it was Giles Milton and Stalin (Russia must have been top of mind in 2024 for some reason!). This year it was the English Civil War. In REVOLUTION &...
CHF 2024: Day 5 Cassino ’44, James Holland The searing sun gave way to cooler cloudier weather on Friday, the day of the military big beasts, James Holland, Max Hastings, Saul David and Anthony Beevor. James Holland’s account of the battle of Monte Cassino follows in...
CHF 2024: Day 4 Ukraine: Rhetoric & Reality: Francis Dearnley, David Knowles, Hanna Shelest, Dominic Nicholls The formidable team from the Telegraph’s Ukraine podcast attracted one of the biggest turnouts as they tackled the gap between rhetoric and reality in the...
CHF 2024: Day 3 The Chalk Stream, Feargal Sharkey Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey gave what might have been the most anticipated talk of the festival, telling the story of how England’s unique chalk streams are dying because of negligence by the privatised water...
