A former Time Lord will be talking about the past when he speaks at the Gloucester History Festival.
The Eighth Doctor Paul McGann will be speaking alongside historian Frank McDonough in a talk entitled The Hitler Years, the same title as McDonough's new book, which McGann narrated on for the audio version.
McGann's brother Stephen is also on the bill, in a talk regarding his book Doctor Turner's Casebook, based on hit BBC drama Call the Midwife.
Another key speaker will be Jeremy Fleming, the head of Cheltenham's spy agency, GCHQ, who will be talking about the history of the world-famous institution.
They are just two of many speakers who will be talking about their chosen specialist subjects when during the fortnight-long festival, which opens on Gloucester (Saturday September 7) and for the next two weeks until Sunday September 22.
As well some better-known names, the ordinary people of the county will be given prominence too: from Extinction Rebellion to the Women of Greenham Common.
Major events in British and world history will be on the programme, from the tense atmosphere of the 1980s to the uprising in Tiananmen Square.
Power and the People is the theme of this year’s festival, exploring the theme of protests in society, in an age when movements across the world take shape.
The Women of Greenham Common will be celebrated as part of this theme with
A two-day tented installation celebrating the Women of Greenham Common will bring the sights and sounds of the protests and oral histories of some of the 70,000 women who made a vast 14-mile human chain as US cruise missiles arrived on British soil in 1983.
As usual, the festival’s keynote talks will take place in Blackfriars, England’s oldest library, and, new for this year, is the Scriptorium Shorts series – free bite-size biography talks in the library where the monks worked in 1239.
The festival also has the community-led City Voices programme, bringing together public projects from across the city, celebrating the county’s amazing history and local heritage.
Sarah Smyth, Blackfriars talks curator, said: “Over 700 years ago the monks brought the townspeople into Blackfriars Priory for the first time and its thrilling to be able to bring audiences into exactly the same space to soak up ancient and modern history in the most complete Dominican Priory in Britain.”
Here are the biggest names appearing during the festival:
Janina Ramirez
The BBC art historian returns for her fourth year as Festival president, discussing the discoveries she unearthed while creating her latest BBC TV series Lost and Found .
She said: “I’m thrilled to introduce our most exciting programme yet. Some of the nation’s greatest historians will be on our magnificent stage to give audiences intriguing new perspectives and fresh voices on the past.”
Jeremy Fleming
The director of GCHQ will be speaking about the world-leading intelligence, cyber and security agency in Cheltenham.
Lucy Worsley
The Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces will be speaking about Britain’s favourite author, Jane Austen.
Max Hastings
The former editor of the Daily Telelgraph, and the Prime Minister’s former boss, will be speaking about the Dambusters,
Kate Adie
The veteran BBC news reporter will be speaking about the protests that took place in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 30 years ago.
Paul McGann
Television star and former Doctor Who Paul McGann appears alongside Heidi Thomas to discuss Call the Midwife, which she turned into the hit BBC TV series.
Other names set to appear include BBC 6 Music DJ Cerys Matthews, war correspondent Martin Bell and David Olusoga.
Tickets are on sale now. Click here https://gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk/ for more information.
