An Excellent Evening in Southwark
You asked, we answered
Is there anything better, when you love history, than sharing history with people who love history! I don’t think so.
Last night in Southwark Cathedral was ‘Ask an Historian’, where the stage was spectacularly set for five historians to hand control of the evening to the congregation to ask whatever questions they wanted to pose to us.
And what a setting Southwark always proves to be - the nave is one of the more breath-taking ones that can be seen, and the history of this nearly 1,000 year old church can be felt as you wander through the aisles. Now, imagine what it is like when its evening and the cathedral has been candlelit. Special is an understatement.
Joining me on stage was my excellent history homies,
, Kate McCaffrey, Owen Emmerson and Jackson Van Uden, and I think we all did a good job answering the litany of questions that came our way. There were questions about Henry VII’s Welshness and the Lambert Simnel affair, plenty about the star of Tudor history Anne Boleyn, interesting ‘what if’ queries around World War II and the danger posed by authoritarianism, and I know we all enjoyed giving our thoughts on being a historian in a social media age.
We definitely enjoyed thinking about which ONE HOUR in history would we all go back to - let’s just say mine involved Richard III and his nephews.
It was a funny and informative evening, and I learned loads even sitting on the stage (with a glass of wine, of course).
In other news, Nicola and I filmed something exciting yesterday so hopefully I’ll be able to share details with you soon about that. In the meantime, I have a few talks coming up, so hopefully you can join me at one of those. They are:
21-23 March 2025 - ‘Wars of the Roses Online History Festival’
Topic: ‘The House of Beaufort’
Time: All Weekend
Tickets: CLICK HERE
Saturday 22 March 2025 – Usk Castle Friends, Usk
Topic: ‘Son of Prophecy’
Time: 10am-1pm
Venue: Memorial Hall, Usk
Tickets: £7, Pay on the Door
Thursday 27 March 2025 – Northampton Battlefield Society, Northampton
Topic: ‘Son of Prophecy’
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Delapre Abbey, Northampton
Tickets: CLICK HERE
Saturday 29 March 2025 – Lichfield Literature Festival, Lichfield
Topic: ‘Son of Prophecy’
Time: 10am
Venue: Wade Street Church, Lichfield
Tickets: CLICK HERE
The books for these talks recently arrived from the publisher, ready for readers to take home, and suffice to say, they’ve already been claimed by Vera. Look at her - she looks demented!
Hwyl fawr am nawr!
All cats are demented occasionally, and the tuxies seem to get that look better than most of them.
But boxes? With new smells! Of course she has to investigate.