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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lichfield Festival
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TZID:UTC
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DTSTART:20250101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260718T101500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260718T111500
DTSTAMP:20260611T143117Z
CREATED:20260331T114855Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260611T143117Z
UID:10000846-1784369700-1784373300@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS - Craig Glenday Editor-in-Chief GWR
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR GUINESS WORLD RECORDS\n  \nA chance to sit back and marvel at the miraculous\, extraordinary world of the Guinness World Records\, in the hands of the man who knows more about record-breakers than anyone\, Editor-in-Chief\, Craig Glenday! \nA long-time friend of the Festival\, Craig will share the inside secrets of the GWR global phenomenon\, and maybe introduce us to a special guest record-breaker or two… and make sure you come ready and prepared\, just in case there’s a chance to make a record of your own! \nEvent Sponsor: \n \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \n  \nBOOK TICKETS FOR GUINESS WORLD RECORDS\n  \n 
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/guinness-world-records-craig-glenday/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Family,Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Guiness-World-Records-The-Hub-@-St-Marys-18th-July-e1774617179431.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260716T143000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260716T153000
DTSTAMP:20260611T075820Z
CREATED:20250402T152139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260611T075820Z
UID:10000834-1784212200-1784215800@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:ALISON WEIR - The Boleyn Secret
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR ALISON WEIR\n  \nOur second Festival event focussed on the Boleyn family sees Festival favourite Alison Weir return with her new release\, The Boleyn Secret\, centred on the life of Kate Carey\, daughter of Mary\, and niece of Anne Boleyn. \nKate spends her young life as a companion to the Princess Elizabeth\, Henry VIII and Anne’s daughter. The two become close\, but marriage and jealousy intervene\, and\, as time passes\, Kate senses that there is a secret associated with her own background. Only when her mother is on her deathbed does she find out the awful truth… \n  \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \n  \nBOOK TICKETS FOR ALISON WEIR
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/alison-weir-the-boleyn-secret/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/16C.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260715T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260715T140000
DTSTAMP:20260603T130217Z
CREATED:20260327T113958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260603T130217Z
UID:10000884-1784120400-1784124000@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:TRACY BORMAN - The House of Boleyn
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out. Please join the waiting list below for any returned tickets\, or we think you may like 1000 TUDOR PEOPLE with Dr Melita Thomas presenting her event in full Tudor costume. \nFestival Patron Tracy Borman’s latest historical fiction release\, The House of Boleyn\, combines danger and passion. When Thomas Boleyn\, lord of Hever Castle\, presents himself to King Henry VIII\, he sets in train events that ensure the Boleyn name will never be forgotten\, leading the family to a terrible bloody fate… but as long as Hever still stands\, hope still exists. \nThe House of Boleyn brings a three-decade rise and precipitous fall to vivid life\, using their world at Hever\, family and servants alike to create an emotional novel of family\, fate and history. \nEvent Sponsor: Mike & Adrienne Swallow \n  \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR TRACY BORMAN
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/tracy-borman-the-house-of-boleyn2/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/15A-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260715T103000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260715T113000
DTSTAMP:20260603T130120Z
CREATED:20260331T120116Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260603T130120Z
UID:10000857-1784111400-1784115000@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:TRACY BORMAN - The House of Boleyn
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out. Please join the waiting list below for any returned tickets\, or we think you may like 1000 TUDOR PEOPLE with Dr Melita Thomas presenting her event in full Tudor costume. \nFestival Patron Tracy Borman’s latest historical fiction release\, The House of Boleyn\, combines danger and passion. When Thomas Boleyn\, lord of Hever Castle\, presents himself to King Henry VIII\, he sets in train events that ensure the Boleyn name will never be forgotten\, leading the family to a terrible bloody fate… but as long as Hever still stands\, hope still exists. \nThe House of Boleyn brings a three-decade rise and precipitous fall to vivid life\, using their world at Hever\, family and servants alike to create an emotional novel of family\, fate and history. \n  \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR TRACY BORMAN
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/tracy-borman-the-house-of-boleyn/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/15A-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260713T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260713T170000
DTSTAMP:20260519T140340Z
CREATED:20260331T120744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260519T140340Z
UID:10000864-1783958400-1783962000@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:NICK HIGHAM - Mavericks - Empire\, Oil\, Revolution and the Forgotten Battle of World War One
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR NICK HIGHAM\n  \nFormer 30-year BBC correspondent Nick Higham’s new book tells the forgotten story of the British ‘mavericks’ whose daring mission at the end of World War I: the near impossible task of holding back the Bolsheviks\, preventing a Turkish-inspired jihad in India\, and securing vital oil supplies from Baku. \nAgainst all odds\, Higham’s cast of eccentric heroes – a commander who inspired Kipling\, a Scottish aristocrat\, an indestructible soldier\, a brilliant inventor and a spy – survived to tell their extraordinary tales\, in this propulsive story of boldness and intrigue set in a forgotten corner of the Great War. \n  \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \nPhoto: Richard Davies \nBOOK TICKETS FOR NICK HIGHAM
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/nick-higham/
LOCATION:Wade Street Church\, Wade Street\, Lichfield\, Staffordshire\, WS13 6HL\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Mavericks.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260711T141500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260711T151500
DTSTAMP:20260519T133651Z
CREATED:20260331T121739Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260519T133651Z
UID:10000872-1783779300-1783782900@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:LINDSEY DAVIS - Murder in Purple and Gold
DESCRIPTION:Birmingham-based crime writing superstar\, Lindsey Davis\, returns to the Festival with her new ‘Flavia Albia’ mystery. When Flavia stumbles upon the murdered corpse of a young man near Rome’s famous Circus Maximus\, she is about to embark on one of her most dangerous and complicated cases. In a city where the Romans are obsessed with chariot racing\, Flavia soon finds out\, nothing is as it seems in the dangerous and glamorous world of the charioteers in which fortunes can be won or lost in seconds and violent death is always just one race away… \nEvent Sponsor: Mike & Adrienne Swallow \n  \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR LINSDEY DAVIS
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/lindsey-davis-murder/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/LD.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260710T163000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260710T173000
DTSTAMP:20260602T144035Z
CREATED:20260331T122802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260602T144035Z
UID:10000876-1783701000-1783704600@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:DR MELITA THOMAS - 1000 Tudor People
DESCRIPTION:‘A gold standard in Tudor scholarship‘ Alison Weir \nThe incredible lives and deaths of 1000 Tudor people are explored in this authoritative single volume: royalty\, military and religious leaders\, Lords Chancellor\, Knights of the Garter\, philosophers\, traders\, gardeners\, musicians\, rebels\, witches\, and many more feature in this compendium. \nThe product of years of diligent research by Dr Melita Thomas (editor and co-founder of the Tudor Times)\, this ambitious title is illustrated with historical portraits and a wealth of detail\, including specially designed family trees to chart the links between major Tudor figures. \nAs a special bonus for our Lichfield audience\, Melita will present her event in full Tudor costume. \n  \nWe offer a wide range of discounts\, including concessions for students\, benefits recipients\, carers/essential companions\, and Under 30s\, plus special standby rates for students and under‑25s (ID required). Family pricing applies to selected events. For further details please see Booking Information | Lichfield Festival or ask our Box Office team. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR DR MELITA THOMAS
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/dr-melita-thomas/
LOCATION:Wade Street Church\, Wade Street\, Lichfield\, Staffordshire\, WS13 6HL\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/1000-Tudor-People.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260322T194500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260322T204500
DTSTAMP:20260212T142519Z
CREATED:20260115T152014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260212T142519Z
UID:10000838-1774208700-1774212300@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:John Crace - The Bonfire of the Insanities: How Does This Government Thing Work Again?
DESCRIPTION:Due to popular demand\, we are delighted to offer a second showing of John Crace’s sell-out talk. Book now to avoid disappointment. \n  \nBOOK TICKETS FOR JOHN CRACE\n  \n‘I lap up everything John Crace writes gratefully: I love his cleverness\, his wit and his heart’ – Nigella Lawson \nAcross 14 years of Tory rule\, John Crace has seen it all: a bucket-load of sleaze and scandals\, myriad questionable policy decisions and an ever-revolving door of impressive* candidates trying to get themselves to the top of a sinking ship. [*terms and conditions apply!] \nWith a bumpy start\, the Labour Party\, led by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves\, have taken the reins\, while Kemi Badenoch and the Tories slink off to regroup in opposition. Many proclaim that the UK’s political landscape has changed – but are those fabled sunny uplands finally in view? \nSelected from Crace’s much-loved Guardian column\, The Bonfire of the Insanities lights up a new chapter of governmental absurdity with mordant wit and caustic humour. \nJohn Crace is the Guardian‘s parliamentary sketch writer and the author of several books\, including Taking the Lead: A Dog at Number 10\, Depraved New World\, Decline and Fail\, and I\, Maybot. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR JOHN CRACE\n 
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/john-crace/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/John-Crace-The-Bonfire-of-the-Insanities-22nd-March-scaled-e1768828523665.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260322T174500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260322T184500
DTSTAMP:20260212T155913Z
CREATED:20260115T152014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260212T155913Z
UID:10000801-1774201500-1774205100@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:John Crace - The Bonfire of the Insanities: How Does This Government Thing Work Again?
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out\, however due to popular demand we are now able to offer a second showing of John Crace’s talk at 7:45pm. \n  \nBook tickets for 7:45pm Event\n\nJoin Waiting List for 5:45pm Event\n  \n‘I lap up everything John Crace writes gratefully: I love his cleverness\, his wit and his heart’ – Nigella Lawson \nAcross 14 years of Tory rule\, John Crace has seen it all: a bucket-load of sleaze and scandals\, myriad questionable policy decisions and an ever-revolving door of impressive* candidates trying to get themselves to the top of a sinking ship. [*terms and conditions apply!] \nWith a bumpy start\, the Labour Party\, led by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves\, have taken the reins\, while Kemi Badenoch and the Tories slink off to regroup in opposition. Many proclaim that the UK’s political landscape has changed – but are those fabled sunny uplands finally in view? \nSelected from Crace’s much-loved Guardian column\, The Bonfire of the Insanities lights up a new chapter of governmental absurdity with mordant wit and caustic humour. \nJohn Crace is the Guardian‘s parliamentary sketch writer and the author of several books\, including Taking the Lead: A Dog at Number 10\, Depraved New World\, Decline and Fail\, and I\, Maybot. \n  \n 
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/john-crace-the-bonfire-of-the-insanities-how-does-this-government-thing-work-again/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/John-Crace-The-Bonfire-of-the-Insanities-22nd-March-scaled-e1768828523665.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260322T154500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260322T164500
DTSTAMP:20260211T102314Z
CREATED:20260115T152035Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T102314Z
UID:10000802-1774194300-1774197900@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Vernon Bogdanor & Andy Beckett - Making the Weather / The Searchers
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR VERNON BOGDANOR AND ANDY BECKETT\n  \n‘Bogdanor’s book is revelatory’ – Daily Telegraph  \n‘The Searchers should be studied closely by anyone with a stake in British politics’ – The Times \nIt is not always the most powerful politicians who are the most influential. In our special panel event\, renowned historian Vernon Bogdanor and journalist Andy Beckett discuss the careers of politicians who have had a huge impact on Britain without (yet\, or ever) achieving the highest office. From Nye Bevan founding the NHS\, via Jeremy Corbyn recalibrating the Labour Party\, to Nigel Farage upending our entire political establishment\, politicians who are often seen as outsiders and mavericks have ended up changing our world… \n  \nVernon Bogdanor is Professor of government at the Institute of Contemporary British History at King’s College\, London. A fellow of the British Academy and Royal Historical Society\, he has written a number of books on constitutional and political history\, including Beyond Brexit and The Strange Survival of Liberal Britain. \n  \nAndy Beckett is a historian of Britain since the 1960s and a Guardian columnist\, who has also written for The Economist\, The New York Times magazine\, the London Review of Books and The Independent on Sunday. His books include Promised You A Miracle\, When the Lights Went Out and Pinochet in Piccadilly. \nPhoto credit: Antonio Zazueta Olmos \n  \nBOOK TICKETS FOR VERNON BOGDANOR AND ANDY BECKETT
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/vernon-bogdanor-andy-beckett-making-the-weather-the-searchers/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Vernon-Bogdanor-Andy-Beckett-e1768400674467.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260322T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260322T150000
DTSTAMP:20260211T102400Z
CREATED:20260115T152427Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T102400Z
UID:10000803-1774188000-1774191600@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Tim Minshall - Your Life is Manufactured: How the World is Made and How We Can Do It Better
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR TIM MINSHALL\n  \nA Waterstones\, Financial Times and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year \nUnless you are floating naked through space\, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products\, be it furniture\, technology\, clothing\, and or even food. The processes by which these things appear in our lives are virtually invisible. How often do we stop to think: Where do the things we buy actually come from? Charting byzantine journeys taken by everyday items to reach us\, Your Life is Manufactured reveals the seismic impact manufacturing has had on our lives and the natural world – and explores how it could offer us a path to a truly sustainable\, more equitable future. \nIn doing so\, Minshall grants us the ability to make better choices for ourselves\, our communities and the planet. \nTim Minshall is the inaugural Dr John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge\, the head of the Engineering Department’s Institute for Manufacturing and a fellow of Churchill College. His research\, teaching and outreach are focused on the links between manufacturing and innovation. He lives in Cambridge with his scientist wife\, Nicola. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR TIM MINSHALL
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/tim-minshall-your-life-is-manufactured-how-the-world-is-made-and-how-we-can-do-it-better/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Tim-Minshall-Your-Life-is-Manufactured-22nd-March-e1768398052704.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260322T121500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260322T131500
DTSTAMP:20260309T133325Z
CREATED:20260115T152507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T133325Z
UID:10000804-1774181700-1774185300@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Katja Hoyer - Beyond the Wall: East Germany\, 1949-1990
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out\, please join the waiting list for any returned tickets\, or we think you might like: Tom McTague – Between The Waves. The George Hotel 19 March \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR KATJA HOYER\n  \n \nThe 2026 Peter Barrett Memorial Lecture \nAn instant Sunday Times bestseller and chosen as a Book of the Year by The Times\, Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph \nFor over forty years\, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium\, the GDR presented a radically different German identity to anything that had come before\, and anything that exists today. Socialist solidarity\, secret police\, central planning\, barbed wire: this was a Germany that was forged on the fault lines of ideology and geopolitics. In Beyond the Wall\, historian Katja Hoyer offers a kaleidoscopic new vision of this vanished country\, arguing that amid oppression and frequent hardship\, East Germany was yet home to a rich political\, social and cultural landscape\, a place far more dynamic than the Cold War caricature often painted in the West. \nKatja Hoyer is a German-British historian\, journalist and the author of the widely acclaimed Blood and Iron and Beyond the Wall. A Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society\, she is a columnist for the Berliner Zeitung\, also contributing regularly to the BBC\, Bloomberg\, The Telegraph\, The Guardian and The Spectator. She was born in Germany but is now based in the UK. Her next book\, Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe\, will be released in May 2026. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR KATJA HOYER
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/katja-hoyer-beyond-the-wall-east-germany-1949-1990/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Katja-Hoyer-Beyond-the-Wall-22nd-March-e1768397690157.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260322T103000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260322T113000
DTSTAMP:20260216T172415Z
CREATED:20260115T152523Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260216T172415Z
UID:10000805-1774175400-1774179000@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Alison Weir - Queens at War: England's Medieval Queens
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out. Please join the waiting list for any returned tickets\, or we think you might like: Tracy Borman – The Stolen Crown \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR ALISON WEIR\n  \nFestival favourite Alison Weir returns with her latest book and five fascinating Queens… \nThe fifteenth century was a turbulent age and each of the five queens who appear in this book were caught up in wars that changed the courses of their lives: the Hundred Years War between England and France\, and the Wars of the Roses\, between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York. Henry IV\, Henry V and Henry VI all married to seal a peace with France. Edward IV married – scandalously – for love\, Richard III to gain great estates. Of their respective wives\, Joan of Navarre was imprisoned as a witch; Katherine of Valois\, who brought her husband the French crown and became the ancestress of the Tudors; Margaret of Anjou fought a civil war on her weak husband’s behalf; Elizabeth Wydeville lived to see her sons\, the Princes in the Tower\, disappear from history; and Anne Neville died after losing her only child\, forsaken by her husband. Theirs are stirring stories of triumph and tragedy\, love and loss\, murder and malice. \nAlison Weir is the biggest-selling female historian (and fifth best-selling historian) in the UK. She has published 32 titles and sold more than 3 million books – over a million in the UK and 2.2 million in the US. \n 
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/alison-weir-queens-at-war-englands-medieval-queens/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Alison-Weir-Queens-at-War-22nd-March-scaled-e1768397464804.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260321T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260321T203000
DTSTAMP:20260211T103102Z
CREATED:20260115T152556Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T103102Z
UID:10000806-1774121400-1774125000@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Robert Newman - Intelligence
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR ROBERT NEWMAN\n  \nAward-winning author and comedian (Newman & Baddiel; The Mary Whitehouse Experience)\, brings us an unputdownable novel about love\, secrets and wartime espionage… \nOxford\, 1938. Ida and Medora are two brilliant young philosophers at the heart of a group who gather in storied rooms to dance\, drink and debate theories of right and wrong. But as the world spins towards war\, theoretical questions of life and death become all too real. While her friends are called up to do intelligence work\, Ida\, the irrepressible Texan outsider\, seeks academic distraction. Then she stumbles across secret Nazi information that could radically change the direction of the war. Can she and Medora capture the attention of the spymasters and mandarins in London in time to save thousands of lives? Seductive\, witty and page-turning: an unputdownable new novel from one of the UK’s best-loved writers and comedians. \nRobert Newman is an award-winning author\, comedian and broadcaster who made his name in the 1990s as a writer and performer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience and Newman & Baddiel. Intelligence is his seventh book. He has written and starred in many TV and radio shows\, including Robert Newman’s Total Eclipse of Descartes\, History of Oil and No Planet B – or the History of the World Backwards\, and has performed sold-out stand-up shows all over the world. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR ROBERT NEWMAN
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/robert-newman-intelligence/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Robert-Newman-Intelligence-21st-March-scaled-e1768828375614.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260321T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260321T183000
DTSTAMP:20260211T103146Z
CREATED:20260115T152539Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T103146Z
UID:10000807-1774114200-1774117800@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Arthur Snell - Elemental: How We Will Live on a Warming Planet
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR ARTHUR SNELL\n  \n‘An extraordinary mastery of geopolitics and a deep ethical concern for the world in the face of catastrophe. A masterpiece’ – Rory Stewart \nWith over 30 years’ experience in conflict zones and fragile states\, Arthur Snell travels from the heat of the Sahel to the Arctic Circle to show how climate change is coinciding with a breakdown in geopolitical order\, increasing conflict and economic crises. Within our lifetimes\, rising temperatures\, sea levels and scarcity will inevitably drive both conflict and mass migration globally. When the rain wrecks India’s ability to grow rice\, the heat makes building impossible in Saudi Arabia\, wildfires rage through America’s most populated regions\, and in Russia huge areas of highly fertile land are exposed by the melting ice\, what will living on a warmer planet actually look like? \n Arthur Snell is an expert on the interaction between geopolitics and climate change with a degree in History from the University of Oxford. He has over 30 years’ experience in conflict zones and fragile states throughout the Middle East and Africa\, and advised governments – including Ukraine during the current conflict – on a range of security- and conflict-related issues. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute\, the world’s oldest think tank\, a former British Ambassador\, and has hosted numerous podcasts which have had millions of downloads. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR ARTHUR SNELL
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/arthur-snell-elemental-how-we-will-live-on-a-warming-planet/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Arthur-Snell-Elemental-21st-March-scaled-e1768396906965.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260321T153000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260321T163000
DTSTAMP:20260211T103227Z
CREATED:20260115T152615Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T103227Z
UID:10000808-1774107000-1774110600@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Masud Husain - Our Brains\, Our Selves: What a Neurologist's Patients Taught Him About the Brain
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR MASUD HUSAIN\n  \nWinner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize \nWhat makes us who we are? \nThrough the stories of seven of his patients\, acclaimed Oxford University neurologist Masud Husain shows us how our brains create\, change and can even restore our identity. Husain introduces us to a man who ran out of words\, a woman who lost all inhibitions and another who believed she was having an affair with the man who was really her husband. These compelling human dramas reveal how our identities are created by different functions within the brain. It will ignite new ideas about who we really are – and why we act in the ways we do. \nMasud Husain is Professor of Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow at New College\, Oxford. Unusually\, he works across departments of neuroscience\, brain imaging and psychology to understand cognitive functions in both healthy people and patients with brain disorders. Masud is Editor-in-Chief of Brain\, a leading international journal of neurology. First established in 1878\, Brain is widely considered to be one of the most influential publications in the field\, with its monthly editorials being a key source of authoritative perspectives. His book Our Brains\, Our Selves won the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2025. \nPhoto credit: Oliver Mayhall \nBOOK TICKETS FOR MASUD HUSAIN
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/masud-husain-our-brains-our-selves-what-a-neurologists-patients-taught-him-about-the-brain/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Masud-Husain-Our-Brains-Our-Selves-21st-March-e1768396580237.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260321T141500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260321T151500
DTSTAMP:20260211T103309Z
CREATED:20260115T152632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T103309Z
UID:10000809-1774102500-1774106100@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Tracy Borman - The Stolen Crown: Treachery\, deceit and the death of the Tudor dynasty
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR TRACY BORMAN\n  \nSuccession meets the Tudors in this explosive account of the passing of the crown from Elizabeth I to James Stuart\, from Festival Patron\, Tracy Borman \nIn March 1603\, Elizabeth I lies dying at Richmond Palace. The queen’s ministers cluster round her bedside\, urging her to name her successor – something she has stubbornly resisted throughout her reign. Almost with her last breath she whispers that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. Or so we’ve been led to believe… \nBut\, as enthralling new research shows\, this is not what happened. Elizabeth went to her grave without formally naming an heir. The notion of an approved succession from Tudors to Stuarts is little more than an elaborately constructed fiction – one with devastating consequences\, as the Stuart regime rapidly descended into turbulence\, uncertainty\, conspiracy\, witchcraft and gunpowder. With a combination of rigorous research and brilliant storytelling\, The Stolen Crown takes us behind palace doors to reveal the secret history of the Tudor succession. \nTracy Borman OBE is a best-selling author\, British historian\, broadcaster and Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces\, appearing regularly on Channel 5’s Inside the Tower of London and numerous other documentaries. Amongst her many other roles\, we are very proud to have her as a Lichfield Festival Patron! \nBOOK TICKETS FOR TRACY BORMAN
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/tracy-borman-the-stolen-crown-treachery-deceit-and-the-death-of-the-tudor-dynasty/
LOCATION:Guildhall\, Bore Street\, Lichfield\, Staffordshire\, WS13 6LU\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Tracy-Borman-Stolen-Crown-21st-March-scaled-e1768396073866.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260321T121500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260321T131500
DTSTAMP:20260309T133935Z
CREATED:20260115T152655Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T133935Z
UID:10000810-1774095300-1774098900@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Tracy Borman - The Stolen Crown: Treachery\, deceit and the death of the Tudor dynasty
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out\, please join the waiting list for any returned tickets\, or there are limited tickets left for Tracy’s 2:15pm talk\, available to book here. \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR TRACY BORMAN\n  \nSuccession meets the Tudors in this explosive account of the passing of the crown from Elizabeth I to James Stuart\, from Festival Patron\, Tracy Borman \nIn March 1603\, Elizabeth I lies dying at Richmond Palace. The queen’s ministers cluster round her bedside\, urging her to name her successor – something she has stubbornly resisted throughout her reign. Almost with her last breath she whispers that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. Or so we’ve been led to believe… \nBut\, as enthralling new research shows\, this is not what happened. Elizabeth went to her grave without formally naming an heir. The notion of an approved succession from Tudors to Stuarts is little more than an elaborately constructed fiction – one with devastating consequences\, as the Stuart regime rapidly descended into turbulence\, uncertainty\, conspiracy\, witchcraft and gunpowder. With a combination of rigorous research and brilliant storytelling\, The Stolen Crown takes us behind palace doors to reveal the secret history of the Tudor succession. \nTracy Borman OBE is a best-selling author\, British historian\, broadcaster and Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces\, appearing regularly on Channel 5’s Inside the Tower of London and numerous other documentaries. Amongst her many other roles\, we are very proud to have her as a Lichfield Festival Patron! \nBOOK TICKETS FOR TRACY BORMAN
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/tracy-borman-the-stolen-crown-treachery-deceit-and-the-death-of-the-tudor-dynasty-2/
LOCATION:Guildhall\, Bore Street\, Lichfield\, Staffordshire\, WS13 6LU\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Tracy-Borman-Stolen-Crown-21st-March-scaled-e1768396073866.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260321T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260321T110000
DTSTAMP:20260211T103502Z
CREATED:20260115T152941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T103502Z
UID:10000811-1774087200-1774090800@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:John Suchet - In Search of Beethoven: A Personal Journey
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR JOHN SUCHET\n  \nA Presto ‘Book of the Year’ from star journalist and Classic FM presenter\, John Suchet \nJohn Suchet’s most personal book is dedicated to the life of an extraordinary composer. Part biography\, memoir and travelogue\, it draws on Suchet’s own life and career as a new anchor and foreign correspondent to show how Beethoven’s music has accompanied him through the best and worst of times. It was with him as a music-loving and adventurous teenager\, as a journalist in war-torn Beirut\, and\, as he has continued to explore the old cities of Bonn and Vienna\, in search of the man behind the music. In this compelling book\, we see Beethoven brought vividly – and sometimes painfully – to life. Suchet traces Beethoven’s footsteps from his early years in Bonn to his dying days in Vienna\, taking us on a journey both literal and symbolic\, as he uses his own experience as a Beethoven aficionado to show the life-changing power of great music. \nJohn Suchet OBE is a bestselling author\, journalist\, radio and TV presenter. He was the voice of morning radio on Classic FM for almost a decade and before that\, he was one of the UK’s best-known television journalists and newscasters\, regularly presenting ITN’s flagship News at Ten for nearly 20 years. A recognised authority on Beethoven\, he is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Beethoven: The Man Revealed (2020)\, as well as biographies of Mozart\, Strauss\, Verdi and Tchaikovsky. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR JOHN SUCHET
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/john-suchet-in-search-of-beethoven-a-personal-journey/
LOCATION:Guildhall\, Bore Street\, Lichfield\, Staffordshire\, WS13 6LU\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/John-Suchet-In-Search-of-Beethoven-21st-March-scaled-e1768828221470.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260320T203000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260320T213000
DTSTAMP:20260318T093058Z
CREATED:20260115T153020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T093058Z
UID:10000812-1774038600-1774042200@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Pierre Novellie - Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things? A Comedian's Guide to Autism
DESCRIPTION:This event is now Sold Out. Join the waiting list below for returned tickets\, or we think you might like: Robert Newman – Intelligence \nJOIN WAITING LIST\n  \n‘Like a Martian’s guide to living on Earth. Funny\, enlightening and gobsmacking’ – Frank Skinner \n Why were the other kids at school obsessed with Britney Spears instead of The Goon Show? Why don’t people ever say what they mean? And… why is everyone chewing so loudly? Comedian Pierre Novellie was on stage when a heckler suggested he was autistic. Usually\, this disruption would be water off a duck’s back but two things made this heckler different: first\, he was himself autistic. Second\, he turned out to be absolutely right. \nThis random encounter led to a diagnosis of autism at the age of 31 that unravelled his world\, explained his struggles and answered questions that had bothered him for his entire life. At once a hilarious and insightful journey through autism and neurodivergence\, an entertaining explainer for the uninitiated and observational comedy for the neurodiverse\, this is the perfect read for anyone who has ever asked themselves: why can’t I just enjoy things? \nPierre Novellie is a stand-up comedian\, writer\, radio host and podcaster. His new Radio 4 show – Why in the name of Pierre Novellie – is currently airing this January\, and he is co-host on both The Frank Skinner Show (Absolute Radio) and the hit Budpod podcast (with Phil Wang). His TV appearances include World’s Most Dangerous Roads (Dave)\, The Mash Report (BBC2)\, and Stand Up Central (Comedy Central). On the radio\, Pierre has performed on The Now Show (Radio 4) and hosted the BBC Sounds podcast series Obsessed With… SAS: Rogue Heroes. As a writer\, Pierre was one of the regular writers on the rebooted Spitting Image (ITV/Britbox) and has also written on shows including Mock the Week (BBC2)\, The News Quiz (Radio 4) and The Mash Report (BBC2). Pierre has performed stand-up around the world\, including sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe\, residencies in Soho and nationwide tours. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR PIERRE NOVELLIE
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/pierre-novellie-why-cant-i-just-enjoy-things-a-comedians-guide-to-autism/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Pierre-Novellie-20th-March-e1768828141459.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260320T184500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260320T194500
DTSTAMP:20260221T212314Z
CREATED:20260115T153042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260221T212314Z
UID:10000813-1774032300-1774035900@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Andrew Lownie - Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out\, please join the waiting list for any returned tickets\, or we think you might like: Lucia Osborne-Crowley – The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR ANDREW LOWNIE\n  \n‘The most devastating royal biography ever written’ – Daily Mail \nPacked with extraordinary revelations\, Entitled is the first joint biography of the now former Duke and Duchess\, revealing how their lives are still deeply entwined. Drawing on four years’ research\, numerous FOI requests and interviews with over 100 people who have never spoken before\, Andrew Lownie traces the lives of the late Queen’s second son and his ex-wife\, through their childhoods\, courtship\, marriage\, divorce\, careers and royal and charitable activities. It reveals new details of how the couple have been able to financially sustain their extravagant lifestyles\, delving into ever-deepening links with Jeffrey Epstein. Chronicling their lives in parallel\, the picture that emerges is of a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain her ‘royal’ status. \nANDREW LOWNIE was educated at Magdalene College\, Cambridge\, where he was President of the Union\, before taking his master’s and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society\, he later returned to Cambridge as a visiting fellow at Churchill College. He has been a bookseller\, publisher\, journalist writing for The Times\, Telegraph\, Wall Street Journal\, Spectator\, Guardian and since 1988 has run his own literary agency.  He is President of the Biographers Club\, sits on the board of Biographers International Organisation and is a Trustee of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. His books include the prize-winning Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (2015) and the top ten Sunday Times bestsellers The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves (2019) and Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (2021). \nPhoto credit: Nick Gregan \n 
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/andrew-lownie-entitled-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-house-of-york/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Andrew-Lownie-Entitled-20th-March-e1768394614593.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260320T164500
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260320T174500
DTSTAMP:20260211T103719Z
CREATED:20260115T153103Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T103719Z
UID:10000814-1774025100-1774028700@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Lucia Osborne-Crowley - The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR LUCIA OSBORNE-CROWLEY\n  \n‘A blazing book that puts the criminal justice system under the microscope’ The Independent \nIn November 2021\, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five counts of sex-trafficking of minors and is now serving 20 years in prison for the role she played in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of four girls. Journalist Lucia Osborne-Crowley was one of the only reporters allowed into the courtroom every day. In her meticulous account of this incendiary trial\, she paints a blistering critique of a criminal justice system ill-equipped to deliver justice for abuse survivors. Written as a gripping true crime drama\, The Lasting Harm questions our appetite for crime and punishment\, offering a new blueprint for meaningful reparative justice. \nLucia Osborne-Crowley is a trained lawyer\, legal reporter and journalist and the author of two books\, I Choose Elena (2019) and My Body Keeps Your Secrets (2021)\, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award. Her forensic but accessible reporting of the Maxwell trial was described as some of the best and most trauma-informed coverage of the case\, and it saw her social media following grow by over 35\,000 followers. She has appeared as an expert journalist on the Maxwell and Prince Andrew cases on BBC News\, Sky News\, LBC News and BBC Radio among others. Her analysis appeared in print in The Independent and ABC News. Elsewhere\, her news reporting has appeared in the Guardian\, The Sunday Times and GQ Magazine and her literary writing has been published in Granta and Meanjin. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR LUCIA OSBORNE-CROWLEY
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/lucia-osborne-crowley-the-lasting-harm-witnessing-the-trial-of-ghislaine-maxwell/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Lucia-Osborne-Crowley-20th-March-e1768828034852.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260320T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260320T150000
DTSTAMP:20260211T101444Z
CREATED:20260115T153122Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T101444Z
UID:10000815-1774015200-1774018800@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Simon Hart - Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out. Join the waiting list below in case returned tickets become available\, or we think you might like Vernon Bogdanor & Andy Beckett – Making the Weather / The Searchers \nJoin Waiting List\n  \nAn insider’s story from the heart of government – as told by a man who knows… \nFormer Chief Whip and MP Simon Hart had a front-row seat to the most turbulent times in Britain’s recent political history: Brexit\, Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership\, the invasion of Ukraine… he’s seen and heard it all. In the oft misunderstood position of Chief Whip\, Simon oversaw a record fifteen Conservative MPs fall by the wayside\, for offences ranging from Matt Hancock’s unauthorized appearance on I’m A Celebrity… to Lee Anderson’s comments about the London Mayor. Each involved a noisy and vitriolic public commentary; none stopped him from becoming one of the few Chief Whips to survive an entire premiership. In an unflinching look at life as a Chief Whip\, Ungovernable is a revealing\, blow-by-blow account – offering a glimpse of what truly goes on in Westminster behind closed doors. \nSimon Hart was MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire between 2010and 2024. Previously a chartered surveyor\, Simon cut his political teeth as the former CEO of the Countryside Alliance. He served on four select committees and then\, following Theresa May’s election as prime minister in 2016\, became her representative on the Committee for Standards in Public Life. He was appointed as Minister for Implementation in the Cabinet Office under Boris Johnson\, and then joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales. He later resigned from his government the day before Johnson himself surrendered. In October 2022\, Rishi Sunak invited him to become Chief Whip. He is married with two adult children\, and lives in Pembrokeshire. \n  \n 
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/simon-hart-ungovernable-the-political-diaries-of-a-chief-whip/
LOCATION:The George Hotel\, Bird Street\, Lichfield\, WS13 6PR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Simon-Hart-Ungovernable-20th-March-scaled-e1768393640680.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260320T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260320T130000
DTSTAMP:20260216T172035Z
CREATED:20260115T153140Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260216T172035Z
UID:10000816-1774008000-1774011600@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Andrew Ziminski - Church Going: A Stonemason's Guide to the Churches of the British Isles
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out\, please join the waiting list for any returned tickets\, or we think you might like: Charles Saumarez Smith – John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR ANDREW ZIMINSKI\n  \n‘A joyous and illuminating exploration of our glorious heritage’ – Sir Tony Robinson \nChurches are many things to us – places of worship\, vibrant community hubs and oases of calm reflection. To know a church is to hold a key to the past that unlocks an understanding of our shared history. \nAndrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator\, acting as an informal guide to curious visitors. This is his handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles\, in which he reveals their fascinating histories\, features and furnishings\, from flying buttresses to rood screens\, lichgates to chancels. Beautifully written and richly illustrated\, it is a celebration of the architectural history of the British Isles. \nAndrew Ziminski is a stonemason\, church conservator and author living and working in Frome\, Somerset. He has four decades of experience working on some of the greatest cathedrals and churches in Britain\, including the tower of Salisbury Cathedral and the dome of St Paul’s in London. He is a SPAB William Morris Craft Fellow\, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries\, and conservation advisor to the Salisbury Diocesan advisory committee for the care of churches. He is the author of The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain. \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR ANDREW ZIMINSKI
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/andrew-ziminski-church-going-a-stonemasons-guide-to-the-churches-of-the-british-isles/
LOCATION:The George Hotel\, Bird Street\, Lichfield\, WS13 6PR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Andrew-Ziminski-Church-Going-20th-March-e1768827957744.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260320T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260320T110000
DTSTAMP:20260211T104044Z
CREATED:20260115T153158Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T104044Z
UID:10000817-1774000800-1774004400@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Charles Saumarez Smith - John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR CHARLES SAUMAREZ SMITH\n  \nA special Literature Festival event to mark the tercentenary of the great architect’s death \nSir John Vanbrugh was one of Britain’s greatest architects and the designer of some of the most important and best beloved English country houses\, including Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. By the standards of architects of the time\, Vanbrugh was a worldly figure\, friend and ally of the great\, with a strong sense of the imaginative characteristics of architecture\, its power of evocation\, and a building’s emotional impact\, particularly when compared to the more disciplined and scholarly work of his contemporaries\, Wren and Hawksmoor. Charles Saumarez Smith paints a fascinating portrait of a man whose architecture was shaped by his personality\, exploring Vanbrugh’s activities as a playwright and theatre manager\, his circle of friends\, his place in 18th-century society\, and\, his influence on later architects from Robert Adam to Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. \nCharles Saumarez Smith did a PhD. on ‘Charles Howard\, third Earl of Carlisle and the Architecture of Castle Howard’ at the Warburg Institute.  His first book\, The Building of Castle Howard\, was published by Faber and Faber in 1990 and won the Alice David Hitchcock Medallion.  After a career working in museums and galleries\, he retired in 2018\, since which he has returned to writing about architecture as the architecture critic of The Critic.  His book\, John Vanbrugh: The Drama of Architecture was published by Lund Humphries in November and an exhibition of the same title will open in February 2026 at Sir John Soane’s Museum. \nCharles will be in conversation with Lichfield’s very own Annette Rubery\, an academic\, theatre historian\, editor and author with a special interest in Vanbrugh and his circle. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR CHARLES SAUMAREZ SMITH
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/charles-saumarez-smith-john-vanbrugh-the-drama-of-architecture/
LOCATION:The George Hotel\, Bird Street\, Lichfield\, WS13 6PR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://lichfieldfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/Charles-Saumarez-Smith-20th-March-scaled-e1768827899137.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260319T193000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260319T203000
DTSTAMP:20260211T104118Z
CREATED:20260115T153215Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T104118Z
UID:10000818-1773948600-1773952200@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Ben Benton - All You Can Eat: The Search for a New British Menu
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR BEN BENTON\n  \n‘Ben Benton is the rarest of beasts\, in that he both cooks and writes beautifully’ – Meera Sodha \nA chef’s tour of the best and most innovative foods in Britain sees Ben Benton on a mission. British food is usually seen as a dire affair – if people think of it at all\, they picture fish and chips\, tea and cakes\, stiff sandwiches and limp vegetables. But the truth is that British food today is one of the world’s most diverse cuisines\, and Benton is setting out to catalogue the best dishes from across the country – from Black Isle to the Balti Triangle\, from Liverpool to Land’s End. Whether sampling seafood on the coast of Northern Ireland or jollof rice in an Essex carpark\, join Ben for a delectable tour celebrating the extraordinary variety of cultures and people in Britain today\, a moreish adventure that offers a chef’s perspective on how to find and cook delicious food where you live. \nBen Benton is a chef\, food writer and co-host of the Go-To Food podcast. He has cooked at Rochelle Canteen and the Dock Kitchen and was head chef at LeCoq\, before co-authoring Max’s Sandwich Book and writing for Vittles\, The Guardian\, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR BEN BENTON
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/ben-benton-all-you-can-eat-the-search-for-a-new-british-menu/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260319T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260319T180000
DTSTAMP:20260211T104203Z
CREATED:20260115T153232Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T104203Z
UID:10000819-1773939600-1773943200@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Robert Colls - George Orwell: Life and Legacy
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR ROBERT COLLS\n  \n‘Everything is freshly presented – his imperial origins and shifting politics\, truth-telling journalism and relations with women. If you want a new view of Orwell\, read Colls’ – The New Statesman \nAn authentic account of Orwell’s life and work from his birth in the high noon of British imperialism\, to his death on the eve of the Cold War in 1950 – a life played out against a background of two world wars\, the rise of communism\, and the war-time pre-eminence of the US. Yet no matter how alert he was to the world order\, and how guarded his personal life\, Orwell never shied away from the question of who he was\, and the contradictions that entailed. His modern masterpieces Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) arrived to define the age he lived in. Interest in him has never abated since; no writer is more quoted or misquoted\, leaving him in danger of being lost to soundbites. Colls reveals the author once again. \nRobert Colls was professor of English History at the University of Leicester before joining the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University\, also in Leicester. He has written widely on modern British history\, and for The New Statesman and the Literary Review\, as well as for other newspapers and journals\, and on television and radio including\, most recently\, The Rest is History podcast. His This Sporting Life (OUP 2020) won the Aberdare Prize for sport history writing. His Identity of England (OUP 2002)\, George Orwell English Rebel (OUP 2014) and This Sporting Life (OUP 2020) were Books of the Year in The Times\, The Sunday Times\, The Observer\, The New Statesman and the BBC History Magazine. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR ROBERT COLLS
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/robert-colls-george-orwell-life-and-legacy/
LOCATION:The Hub at St Mary’s\, Market Square\, Lichfield\, WS13 6LG\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260319T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260319T150000
DTSTAMP:20260309T133355Z
CREATED:20260115T153249Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T133355Z
UID:10000820-1773928800-1773932400@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Alwyn Turner - A Shellshocked Nation: Britain Between the Wars
DESCRIPTION:This event is now sold out\, please join the waiting list for any returned tickets\, or we think you might like: Vernon Bogdanor & Andy Beckett. The Hub @ St Mary’s 22 March \n  \nJOIN WAITING LIST FOR ALWYN TURNER\n  \nFrom Times Book of the Year writer and historian\, Alwyn Turner \nThe Great War left Britain shattered and the years that followed were wracked by crises: the Spanish Flu\, the General Strike\, the Depression\, the Abdication. In these confused times\, people looked for meaning in the oddest places – Spiritualism and Stonehenge enjoyed renewed popularity\, newspaper horoscopes were invented\, and strange phenomena observed\, from Tutankhamun’s Curse to ‘Nessie’ and the Cottingley Fairies. \nIt was also a time of escapism – the Jazz Age\, the birth of the BBC\, Bertie Wooster and Hercule Poirot\, Gracie Fields and Ivor Novello\, of greyhound racing and Butlin’s. As George Formby sang\, ‘It’s turned out nice again.’ Perhaps the most striking feature of the time is not what happened\, but what didn’t happen. Even as countries across Europe fell to dictatorship\, Britain remained immune to extremist politics. \nAlwyn Turner is a writer and historian who teaches at the University of Chichester. He is best-known for his chronicles of twentieth-century Britain\, which take in political\, cultural and social history\, and for his studies of British culture\, from the Daleks to the Biba boutique\, and from the Last Post bugle call to the early days of rock ’n’ roll and glam rock. A Shellshocked Nation follows his earlier Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era\, which was a Times Book of the Year. He spent his teenage years in Lichfield\, where his father was a musician in the Staffordshire Regiment. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR ALWYN TURNER
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/alwyn-turner-a-shellshocked-nation-britain-between-the-wars/
LOCATION:The George Hotel\, Bird Street\, Lichfield\, WS13 6PR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260319T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260319T130000
DTSTAMP:20260211T104348Z
CREATED:20260113T102352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T104348Z
UID:10000821-1773921600-1773925200@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Tom McTague - Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR TOM MCTAGUE\n  \n‘A lucid\, thoughtful and richly provocative book’ – The Sunday Times \nA riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades\, Between the Waves chronicles the battle of ideas\, events and personalities that first took the country into the Common Market in 1973… only to take it out of the EU in an explosive referendum a little over 40 years later. \nIn a story of ambition and underhand politics\, of nation\, identity and belief\, Tom McTague unearths the roots of ideological conflict that raged between the leading politicians of the 20th century as they fought for the future of Europe – Charles de Gaulle\, Harold Macmillan\, Jean Monnet\, Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. Alongside these famous figures are the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war drama: a coterie of Eurosceptic student radicals\, eccentric billionaires and political strategists who turned the tide of history. \nTom McTague is the Editor-in-Chief of The New Statesman. He has previously held positions as Political Editor at UnHerd and The Independent on Sunday\, staff writer at The Atlantic and Chief UK Correspondent at POLITICO. He has been highly commended at the British Press Awards and co-anchored the geopolitical history podcast These Times. He is co-author of Betting the House\, named by The Times as a 2017 Political Book of the Year. He grew up in County Durham in the northeast of England and now lives in London with his wife and three children. Between the Waves is his first work of history. \nTom will be interviewed by Jo Durrant\, now a regular Festival event chair. Jo is a broadcaster\, event host\, podcaster\, and presents the award-winning arts & science podcast Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR TOM MCTAGUE
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/tom-mctague-between-the-waves/
LOCATION:The George Hotel\, Bird Street\, Lichfield\, WS13 6PR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260319T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260319T110000
DTSTAMP:20260211T104444Z
CREATED:20260113T102352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T104444Z
UID:10000822-1773914400-1773918000@lichfieldfestival.org
SUMMARY:Annie Garthwaite - The King's Mother: There Can Only Be One
DESCRIPTION:BOOK TICKETS FOR ANNIE GARTHWAITE\n  \nThe sweeping sequel to the best-selling Cecily sees the Duchess of York plotting for supremacy in the Wars of the Roses \n1461. Through blood and battle Edward has gained England’s throne – king by right and conquest – eighteen years old and unstoppable. Cecily has piloted his rise to power and stands at his shoulder now\, first to claim the title King’s Mother. But war is come again\, as brother betrays brother\, and cousins turn treacherous\, other mothers rise up to fight for other sons. Cecily must focus her will to defeat every challenge. Wherever they come from. Whatever the cost. For there can be only one King\, and only one King’s Mother. \nFrom the Wars of the Roses to the dawn of the Tudor age\, this is a story of mothers and sons; of maternal ferocity and female ambition – of all they can build and all they can destroy. \nAnnie Garthwaite is the acclaimed author of two novels that bring the women of the Wars of the Roses to life. Cecily (Viking\, Penguin 2021) was named a ‘top pick’ by The Times and Sunday Times\, a ‘Best Book of 2021’ by independent bookshops and Waterstones\, and has recently been optioned for television. The King’s Mother (Viking\, Penguin 2024) was named ‘Book of the Month’ by The Times immediately upon publication. Annie came to writing after a 30-year international business career\, determined to cast light on female histories often overlooked. \nBOOK TICKETS FOR ANNIE GARTHWAITE
URL:https://lichfieldfestival.org/event/annie-garthwaite-the-kings-mother/
LOCATION:The George Hotel\, Bird Street\, Lichfield\, WS13 6PR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Literature
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