Speakers & Chairs 2026

Eleanor Anstruther was born in London, educated at Westminster School and studied History of Art at Manchester University where she was distracted from finishing her degree by a trip to India. She was lost and found for the next twelve years, starting a commune and travelling the world before finally settling down to write. Her acclaimed debut novel, A Perfect Explanation, (Salt Books) was long listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the 2019 Not The Booker Prize. Find her on Substack where she runs The Literary Obsessive and much loved interview series, The Obsessive Live.

Ben Barry is the Senior Fellow for Land Warfare for the International Institute for Strategic Studies which he joined in 2010. Before this he served in the British Army where he commanded both an armoured infantry battalion and a multinational brigade on UN and NATO operations in Bosnia. He was Director of the British Army Staff in the UK Ministry of Defence and author of the Army’s lessons learned analysis of post-conflict stabilisation of Iraq. Ben is the author of Blood, Metal and Dust: How Victory Turned into Defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq (2020), which was shortlisted for The Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History 2021, the British Army Book of the Year 2021, the 2020 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award and the Templer Medal Book Prize 2021.

Patrick Baty was a former officer in both the regular Army and also in the Artists Rifles. He has since become the archivist and historian of the latter. His two great grandparents were the artists Robert Bevan and Stanisława de Karłowska and he has researched the circles in which they moved and assisted in exhibitions of their works. Since leaving the Army he has pursued a career in the decoration of historic buildings. His work covers research, paint analysis, colour & technical advice. Projects have ranged from King Henry VIII’s heraldic Beasts and London social housing estates to major structures such as Tower Bridge and Stowe House. He has also worked in the USA.

Andrew Bayliss is Associate Professor in Greek History at the University of Birmingham. He has taught and studied in Australia, Greece and the UK, and his published works on ancient Greek history include Oath and State in Ancient Greece (2012), The Spartans(2020) and The Spartans: A Very Short Introduction (2022).

Sparta is his first full-length book introducing the subject to the general reader.

Flight-Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC was born in East Moley, not far from Hampton Court Palace, in March 1921. Known for his talks on his wartime service, he has made several podcasts for We Have Ways of Making you Talk, continues to drive, to travel and to be active on social media.

During his tenure at King’s College London, David Betz has published extensively on warfare, counterinsurgency, and cybersecurity. In 2011, Betz argued that concerns about cyberwarfare had close relation to the alarmism found in military circles over aviation a century earlier in Cyberwar Is Not Coming. In Carnage and Connectivity (2015), Betz analysed the impact of global connectivity on military power. In 2017, he co-authored Putting the Strategy Back into Strategic Communications, advocating for a more robust strategic foundation in communications theory. Betz also addressed the application of ethics and morals in modern battlefield contexts in War, ‘Moral Forces’, and the ‘Virus of Strategism’.

Nigel Biggar CBE is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Pusey House, Oxford. He holds a B.A. in Modern History from Oxford and a Ph.D. in Christian Theology & Ethics from the University of Chicago. He was appointed C.B.E. “for services to Higher Education” in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. His most recent books are Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (2023), What’s Wrong with Rights? (2020), In Defence of War (2013), and Between Kin and Cosmopolis: An Ethic of the Nation (2014). In the press he has written articles for the Financial Times, the (London) Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator, the (Glasgow} Herald, the Irish Times, Standpoint, The Critic, The Article, Unherd and Quillette.

‘Born and bred’ in Herefordshire, Kate Bliss was a pupil at Hereford Cathedral School and read English Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford.  After studying fine art to become a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Kate spent several years as auctioneer and valuer before founding her own independent fine art valuation business in 2003. As a Fellow and Diamond Member of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, Kate specialises in jewellery and is a consultant with various UK and international auction houses.

As an antiques expert and presenter with the BBC for over twenty years, Kate’s regular appearances include BBC’s Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip as well as presenting ITV’s Secret Dealers. Filming has taken Kate far afield, exploring the wilds of Scotland to the ‘brocantes’ of Europe and the antique fairs of New York.

Kate’s projects are diverse ranging from valuing small private collections to managing complete estates, presenting corporate marketing films, public speaking, hosting charity auctions and lecturing. Kate is proud to be an ambassador for Herefordshire charities St Michael’s Hospice, SSAFA Hereford and The Little Princess Trust.

Piers Blofeld is a literary agent and, apart from a brief stint as a story consultant in the video games industry he has worked in publishing for the whole of his career. A regular commentator on the mysteries of the book business he has had his own column in Writing Magazine for the last five years. Born and bred in Norfolk, his surname made it all but inevitable he would nurture a fascination with supervillainy and spying. Master of Liesis his first book.

General Sir Adrian Bradshaw KCB OBE DL was NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2014 to 2017, having previously been Deputy Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012 and Commander UK Land Forces in 2013. He has served in armour, as a military pilot, and in a variety of other operational roles over a career spanning 44 years.

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative and a senior associate fellow at the European Leadership Network. She is a columnist with Foreign Policy and Politico Europe, where she writes on national security and the globalised economy, and is the author of God’s Spies and The Defender’s Dilemma.

Mark J A Cann is Chief Executive of The British Forces Foundation and the Burma Star Memorial Fund, leading two organisations dedicated to supporting serving personnel and preserving the legacy of those who served. Before entering the charitable sector, Mark served for 12 years in the British Army with the 17th/21st Lancers and later the Queen’s Royal Lancers. His service took him on operations to Belize, Mozambique, Bosnia and Cyprus, as well as postings in India, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Canada and the United Kingdom. This experience continues to inform his understanding of leadership, service, and the enduring impact of conflict on those who serve and their families.

A compelling and engaging speaker, Mark brings together lived military experience, historical insight, and contemporary relevance. His talks are known for their honesty, humanity and ability to connect with audiences ranging from school assemblies to large formal events.

Helen Carr is a historian and writer specialising in medieval history and public history. Her bestselling first book, The Red Prince, was a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her second book, an edited volume of essays titled What is History, Now? has become primary reading for history students and enthusiasts globally. Helen also works in podcasting, television and journalism and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a postgraduate researcher at Queen Mary University of London.

Martin Cawthorne has worked with the Royal Hospital Chelsea since 2014, initially involved on a project to digitise part of the institution’s archive collection. These archives, stored for decades in an attic above one of the Long Wards, included original source material from the Second World War. Martin subsequently researched the Royal Hospital’s wartime history as part of a Master’s Degree in Historical Studies at the University of Oxford, for which he was awarded a Distinction. His book, The Royal Hospital Chelsea at War was published in 2024. Martin’s research is used extensively by the Royal Hospital to tell its wartime story. Martin worked in the City for almost 30 years and is a member of the investment committee which oversees the management of the Royal Hospital’s financial reserves.

Alexander Clifford is an expert on Europe in the interwar period who has studied at the universities of Leeds, Munich and Northumbria. As well as writing on the Weimar Republic and 1930s Britain, he has made a particular study of the Spanish Civil War. His previous publications include Britain's Iron Chancellor, Hindenburg, Ludendorff & Hitler, The People’s Army in the Spanish Civil War and Fighting for Spain, an illustrated history of the famous International Brigades.

Damian Collins is the author of Rivals in the Storm, how Lloyd George seized power, won the war and lost his government, which was published in 2024, and Charmed Life, The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon, published in 2016. Damian has also contributed chapters on Lloyd George, Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VIII for Iain Dale’s books, The Prime Ministers, The Presidents and King’s and Queen’s.

Damian is a former UK government Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, was Chair of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe from 2010 to 2024. Damian lived in Herefordshire for over twenty years, including going to school at St Mary’s High School in Lugwardine, and at Belmont Abbey.

Ash Alexander-Cooper OBE is a former soldier, world-championship athlete, artist and award-winning international musician. During a three-decade career, Ash served as a helicopter pilot, airborne, jungle-warfare and counter-terrorism specialist, spending seven years deployed in some of the world’s most challenging environments. Wounded multiple times, Ash proudly supports several veterans’ charities as a vocal mental health campaigner and advocate. Since retirement from the military, he has focussed on leadership and resilience and is now a sought-after international keynote speaker and strategic advisor, supporting those seeking to overcome adversity, to adapt and win in today’s increasingly complex world. Mindful Soldier: Building Resilience to Overcome Life’s Challenges is his first book, all author profits from which he is donating to international veterans and mental health charities. He lives in London.

Robert Cowley is an authority on American and European military history, whose writing spans the American Civil War to World War II. He has held several senior positions in book and magazine publishing and is the founding editor of the award-winning MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. As part of his research he drove and walked the entire length of the Western Front. He lives in Newport, Rhode Island.

Sam Cranny-Evans is a defence analyst and consultant as well as an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, the oldest defence think-tank in the world. He has previously worked at the Janes Information Group as the lead land warfare analyst, focusing on all of the world’s armoured fighting vehicles. He has published thousands of articles on armoured warfare and the technologies driving its development throughout his career and now runs a defence news outlet called Calibre Defence.

Steve Crawshaw has written and worked on human rights and justice for more than thirty years, where his roles included Russia and East Europe Editor during the east European revolutions and Balkan wars, then Germany Bureau Chief and Chief Foreign Correspondent. In 2002, he joined Human Rights Watch as UK director and then UN advocacy director in New York. In 2010 he joined Amnesty International as International Advocacy Director and then Director of the Office of the Secretary General. In 2018 he became Policy and Advocacy Director at Freedom from Torture. He studied Russian and German at the universities of Oxford and St Petersburg, and lived in Poland from 1978 to 1981

Charles Cumming was born in Scotland. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he was approached by the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and used his experiences as the basis for his debut novel, A Spy By Nature.

Cumming’s espionage fiction has since won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year, and his novels have been translated into fourteen languages. The Observer has described Charles as ‘the rightful inheritor of John le Carré’s crown’. His most recent novel, Kennedy 35, was a Sunday Times Thriller of the Month and was chosen as a Thriller of the Year by Waterstones and the Financial Times. His recent screenwriting credits include the critically-acclaimed Sky/Peacock adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal.

Dominic Cummings is a former Political Advisor, Strategist and Campaign Director with a catalogue of high profile and highly successful campaign wins under his belt. Dominic Cummings is an authoritative and insightful speaker with Chartwell Speakers. He is perhaps most well known in recent years for his role as the Chief Advisor to Boris Johnson on taking over as Prime Minister in 2019. Prior to this, he was the Director of the Vote Leave Campaign in the lead up to the UK’s EU membership referendum of 2016. Dominic Cummings is an authoritative and insightful speaker with Chartwell Speakers.

Tom Cutterham is a historian of the American Revolution and the author of Empire Ablaze: The American Revolution and the Atlantic Working Class (Verso, 2026). He is an Associate Professor of United States History at the University of Birmingham, where he has taught since 2016. Before that, he was a student and junior research fellow at Oxford University. His first book was Gentlemen Revolutionaries: Power and Justice in the New American Republic (Princeton University Press, 2017), and his work has also appeared in scholarly venues such as the William and Mary Quarterly and the Journal of the Early Republic.

Simon Davies is the CEO of Spectra Group (UK) Ltd, a firm specialising in providing mission-critical communications systems to governments, military forces, and private companies. Davies has a background in the British Army's Royal Signals and served for 24 years, including a stint in the UK Special Forces. Upon retiring from the army in 2004, he established Spectra Group, which has become a trusted provider of communications products and services in challenging environments. Davies has been acknowledged for his contributions, being named Battlespace Magazine's ‘Businessperson of the Year’ in 2017 and receiving the Queen's Award for Innovation in 2019 for Spectra's tactical communications product, SlingShot.

During his 40 years as a British soldier, Major General Denaro commanded his Regiment in the war to liberate Kuwait and was Chief of Staff of some 44,000 multinational troops during the Balkans conflict. He then became Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for 3 years. For 6 years until his retirement in Mar 2003, he was the Middle East adviser to the UK Secretary of State for Defence.

He became an OBE after the Gulf War in 1991 and a CBE following his time in the Former Yugoslavia in 1995.

He was a trustee and a council member of the Princes’ Trust 2000-2008, and an adviser to the Crown Prince of Bahrain 2003-07. He became a senior adviser to the court of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and other governments in the Gulf Region. He formed an Advisory Board to the UK MoD on Middle East issues, which lasted until 2020, and he now works with Forward Thinking, a non-governmental organisation that works in the UK and the Gulf-MENA region to resolve conflict through inclusive dialogue.

Major General Denaro is an Extra Equerry to His Majesty the King and a retired Deputy Lieutenant for Herefordshire.

Mark Dunton is Principal Contemporary Records Specialist at The National Archives, London, and has in-depth knowledge of researching public records, with a particular interest in 20th-century British political, social and economic history.

Lucy Betteridge-Dyson is a military & animal historian, author, and PhD candidate at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London. She has a strong personal connection to the Burma Campaign through her grandfather, Captain Edwin Alan Robert Syms, who served with 44 (Royal Marine) Commando during the Third Arakan Campaign, the subject of her first book, Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945. A Burma Star Memorial Fund scholar, her current research combines methodologies from military history and animal studies to explore the role of horses and mules in shaping operations and the institutional development of the British Army and imperial forces between 1918 and 1945.

Tobias Ellwood is a leading expert and commentator in the fields of geopolitics, foreign relations, military strategy, terrorism, defence, British politics, Ukraine, the Middle East, and NATO. His insights are informed by nearly two decades as a Member of Parliament (UK), during which he also served as a Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, and Chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee. This extensive leadership placed him at the forefront of UK foreign relations and security. Ellwood's distinguished career began long before his time in Parliament. As an officer in the British Army's Royal Green Jackets, he gained firsthand experience in military operations-experience that has deeply influenced his strategic approach to defence and international policy. Over the years, Ellwood's engagements have ranged from private tea with Vladimir Putin, where he observed the inner workings of Russian diplomacy, to working closely with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on critical Middle East policy initiatives.

Charlie English is the former head of international news at the Guardian. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he is the author of several widely acclaimed histories including The Snow Tourist, The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu, The Gallery of Miracles and Madness and The CIA Book Club. He lives in London.

Ahana Datta Fasel is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Security Science and Technology, Imperial College London. Advising governments and companies globally on their cyber defence strategies, she is a trustee at Privacy International and is on the strategic advisory board of UK Research and Innovation. Previously the Financial Times’ cyber chief, she has held multiple senior roles in the UK Government, serving the Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet Office and the National Cyber Security Centre. Her editorials have been published in the Financial Times and Columbia Journalism Review. She holds a PhD from University College London.

Colin Freeman is a former chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph, now a freelance foreign affairs writer. He has reported on Ukraine since the outbreak of the Russian invasion, mainly for The Daily Telegraph and Spectator. Colin is also the author of three previous books: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The mission to rescue the hostages the world forgot (Icon Books, 2021). Kidnapped: Life as a Somali pirate hostage (Monday Books, 2011) was about the author’s own experience of being abducted in Somalia in 2008. And The Curse of the Al-Dulaimi Hotel and other half-truths from Baghdad (Monday Books, 2008) is a book of reportage about post-Saddam Iraq.

Frank Gardner has been the BBC's Security Correspondent since 2002. He holds a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In 2004, while filming in Saudi Arabia, he was ambushed by terrorists, shot multiple times and left for dead. He survived and returned to active news reporting within a year. Although paralysed in the legs, he still travels extensively, reporting from Ukraine to Colombia to Saudi Arabia. Awarded an OBE in 2005 for services to journalism, Frank published his bestselling memoir, Blood and Sand, in 2006. His first novel, the thriller Crisis, which introduced readers to SIS operative Luke Carlton, was a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller. The second and third Luke Carlton thrillers, Ultimatum and Outbreak, were also bestsellers, as was the fourth, the Taiwan-set Invasion. Frank Gardner lives in London.

Annie 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 so often overlooked.

Keir Giles has advised governments worldwide on the Russian threat. A senior fellow with Chatham House’s Russia programme, and Director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre, he is a regular commentator for the BBC and international media. His prescient books include What Deters Russia and Moscow Rules.

Georgina Godwin is a broadcaster, interviewer and writer working across literature, culture and geopolitics. She is Books Editor at Monocle Radio, where she hosts the flagship literary programme Meet the Writers and the current affairs show The Globalist. She also presents Visionary, a podcast series for Here East exploring the people and ideas shaping the world to come.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Georgina helped found the country’s first independent radio station and was subsequently declared an ‘enemy of the state’ and banned from returning. She trained as a classical actor at Mountview Theatre School in London and worked in British theatre before moving into broadcasting. She regularly chairs literary events and conversations around the world, appearing at festivals including Hay, Cheltenham, Adelaide, Jaipur and Charleston, and at institutions such as Georgetown University.

Adrian Goldsworthy studied at Oxford, where his doctoral thesis examined the Roman army. He went on to become an acclaimed historian of Ancient Civilisations, with numerous works of non fiction including The Eagle and the Lion, Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors, Caesar, The Fall of the West, Pax Romana, and Hadrian’s Wall.

Mark Griffiths’ story began in 1956 at RAF Abingdon, the son of a Group Captain. Immersed in a military environment, this childhood was peppered with travel and character-building experiences that shaped his future career. He was educated at Radley College, and later serving in the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, Pathfinder Patrol Company and completing tours of active service in Northern Ireland (NIPG), Malaya, and Berlin. Mark’s military career took him to some of the world’s most volatile regions, first in Israel and Lebanon before commanding a militia unit in the Eastern Highlands of Rhodesia during the Bush War. He went on to join the newly formed 44 Parachute Brigade Pathfinders, known as ‘the Philistines’ In the late 1980s, Mark worked as a military advisor in Colombia. After two contracts in Afghanistan, he built the tactical training facility, SWAT National Firearms Centre in South Africa, developing advanced training techniques. Retired from active service, he narrates his memoirs, offering a firsthand account of his experiences.

Chris Hall is a retired Librarian and trade unionist. He has researched and written on military history, specialising in the Spanish Civil War. His previous published works include an account of George Orwell’s fellow British and Irish volunteers. He has written about Manchester nurse Madge Addy, who served in the Spanish Civil War and was a secret agent in occupied France in World War II.

His latest book published this year is British Volunteers and the Spanish Civil War: ‘The Passionate Cause,’ 1936-39. Ninety years ago, a Civil War broke out in a then little-known country. For thousands of British, Irish and Commonwealth people, the Spanish Civil War was their main focus for three years. Over 2,500 ‘British’ (including Irish and Commonwealth) men and women fought in the International Brigades or served in the medical services of the Spanish Republic. Over 500 volunteers were to die in Spain.

Monty Halls is a former Royal Marines Officer who served for over a decade. His subsequent careers as expedition leader and broadcaster have made him a house-hold name, most notably presenting Monty Hall’s Great Escape on the BBC. His expeditions have taken him to the some of the most remote corners of the earth.

He continues to support the Royal Marines through his ambassadorship of the RM Charity, where he raises funds for the veteran community. He also advocates for marine conservation. Monty is based in Devon, where he runs Seadog, a production company specialising in military, adventure, and wildlife film-making.

Adam Hart is a 26-year-old historian and journalist from Pembrokeshire in south west Wales. After studying History and Journalism at university, 22-year-old Adam retraced his great grandfather Frank Griffiths' epic escape from occupied Europe in the Second World War after he was shot down on a secret midnight mission to drop supplies to the French Resistance. Travelling 1,200 miles through France, Switzerland and Spain, Adam tracked down and met descendants of the heroic French civilians who risked their lives to hide, clothe, feed and transport Frank out of Europe under the noses of the Nazis. Operation Pimento is not only a riveting true story, but also a vivid account of one young man's journey to discover more about a man he'd never met, but always knew to be a hero. It was published by Hodder and Stoughton in June 2025 and was shortlisted for the Hatchard’s First Biography Prize

My name is Kieron Hawkes. I have spent 14 years as a military dog trainer, handling and training dogs in some of the most remote locations in the world. I was a trainer with the canine training team within 22 Special Air Service (SAS), widely renowned as the best tier-one Special Forces unit globally, and home to one of the finest canine training teams. Unfortunately, I started suffering from mental health issues and have since been medically discharged. Like many soldiers facing the end of their military careers, I was uncertain about my future. However, my deep love for dogs and my extensive experience in training them led me to a new path. I am now dedicated to supplying equipment to dogs and their owners or handlers, while sharing my knowledge and experiences from my military service with the broader dog-loving community.

Charles Hecker is the author of the 2024 book Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia, published in the UK by Hurst Publishers and in the US by Oxford University Press. Prior to writing Zero Sum, Charles was a partner at Control Risks, the international, specialist risk consultancy. For eight years, he was the managing partner of the firm’s Moscow office. He was later a co-head of Control Risks’ geopolitical risk consulting practice. Prior to working at Control Risks, Charles was a journalist in Russia for The Moscow Times and in Florida for The Miami Herald. He has a BA in Russian and Soviet Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from the Russian Research Center (now the Davis Center) at Harvard University.

Lindsey Hilsum is Channel 4 News' International Editor and the author of I Brought The War with Me; Stories and Poems from the Front Line. Recently she has reported from Lebanon, Ukraine and Syria. She has covered the major conflicts and refugee movements of the past three decades, including Afghanistan, the Sahel, Iraq, Kosovo and Rwanda, winning several awards. She is a regular contributor to newspapers and literary journals. Her book In Extremis; the Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin, won the 2019 James Tait Black Prize for biography. Her first book was Sandstorm; Libya in a Time of Revolution.

Major Chris Hunter is a bestselling author, bomb disposal specialist, high-risk security advisor and motivational speaker. Joining the British Army at sixteen, he served for 17 years predominantly as a high-threat bomb disposal operator, including four years attached to the UK Special Forces. His deployments spanned numerous conflict zones across the globe, earning him the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his actions during a Middle East bomb disposal tour in 2004.

John Jefferies studied History at Christ Church, Oxford. He taught History and Politics for 36 years and retired as Senior Tutor from Warwick School in 2026. He writes Politics A Level text books and has been interviewing at literary festivals for 15 years.

Dan Jones is a bestselling historian, TV presenter and award-winning journalist. His non-fiction books, which have sold more than a million copies worldwide, include the Sunday Times bestsellers THE PLANTAGENETS, THE TEMPLARS, POWERS AND THRONES and HENRY V. His fiction includes the acclaimed Essex Dogs trilogy, set during the Hundred Years War, concluding with LION HEARTS. Dan has written and presented numerous TV series including Secrets of Great British Castles, Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets and London: 2000 Years of History. He writes and hosts the Sony Music podcast This is History. For a decade Dan was a weekly columnist for the London Evening Standard; he has also contributed to dozens of newspapers and magazines worldwide, including the New York Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph and Spectator. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Trustee of Historic Royal Palaces.

Fergal Keane is a multi award winning foreign correspondent and author. For nearly forty years he has reported for the BBC from the world’s conflict zones. He is the winner of awards from BAFTA, EMMY, Royal Television Society among others. His book Season of Blood on the Rwandan genocide won the George Orwell Prize for political writing. His most recent work is The Madness - a Memoir of War and Love which explores his experience of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a consequence of his exposure to atrocities.

Caroline Lang began her broadcasting career in BBC Local Radio before moving to BBC Radio 2 as a Current Affairs Researcher on the Jimmy Young Show and then BBC Radio 4 as a Producer on the nightly Arts programme Kaleidoscope. Caroline then joined BFBS, the British Forces Broadcasting Service, where as a TV and Radio reporter her assignments ranged from behind the scenes stories with the British troops serving in Bosnia and Croatia during the Balkans War, to time in Northern Ireland covering the end of the Troubles and the Good Friday Agreement. On BFBS TV, as well as anchoring the Forces news programme, Caroline hosted a TV interview programme, Caroline and Company, with forces related celebrities including Sir Denis Healey, Sir Peter de la Billière, Kate Adie, John Nichol, Andy McNabb and Martin Bell.

David Lascelles, 8th Earl of Harewood, is a BAFTA-winning film and television producer. He is one of the founders of Heirs of Slavery, a campaign group that seeks to redress the horrors of the Transatlantic slave trade. He lives in Yorkshire. Out of Colditz is his second book.

Alan Lester is Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Sussex and Adjunct Professor of History at La Trobe University. He has written eleven books on British colonialism, most recently Ruling the World: Freedom, Civilisation and Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century British Empire; and Deny and Disavow: The British Empire in the Culture War (co-authored; 2nd edition).

Sunday Times bestseller, Damien Lewis has established himself as one of the most popular WWII historians, selling several million copies of his books in 40 countries. For decades he worked as a war and conflict reporter for the world's major broadcasters, reporting from across Africa, South America, the Middle and Far East and winning numerous awards. His books include the World War Two classics The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Hunting the Nazi Bomb, SAS Nazi Hunters, SAS Ghost Patrol, SAS Italian Job, SAS Band of Brothers, SAS Brothers in Arms, The Flame of Resistance on Josephine Baker, SAS Great Escapes 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus SAS Brothers in Arms, SAS Forged in Hell and SAS Daggers Drawn on Paddy Mayne & the SAS in WW2. SAS The Great Train Raid was published in October 2025 to great acclaim. Many of his books have been made, or are being made, into movies or TV drama series. In 2024 The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare came out as a major movie directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and distributed by Lionsgate in the US and Amazon worldwide where it is still available starring Henry Cavill (Superman), Alan Ritchson (Reacher), Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) and Eiza González, amongst others.  SAS Great Escapes 5 is Damien’s latest book.

Lewis has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charitable concerns connected with his writing.

Matt Lewis is a medieval historian, author, presenter and podcaster with a focus on the Wars of the Roses. Matt has written biographies of Richard III, of his father Richard, Duke of York, and other medieval figures, as well as accounts of The Anarchy and the Wars of the Roses, and The Survival of the Princes in the Tower. Matt hosts the Echoes of History podcast, co-hosts the Gone Medieval podcast, and presents and contributes to documentaries for History Hit and on traditional television.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was commissioned into the Irish Guards before serving with 22 SAS from 1987-1995 as a troop and squadron commander, with a tour between as an operations officer at special forces headquarters. After leaving the army, he served as Principal Private Secretary to Prince William, Prince Harry and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, between 2005-2014. He is now an author with his first novel, ‘Beyond the Edge of Light’, published in July this year.

Iain MacGregor is a successful editor of non fiction for major publishing houses, working with talented and bestselling historians such as Michael Wood, Simon Schama, William Taubman, Alice Roberts and John Nichol – as well as publishing tie-ins with archives and podcasts such as the Imperial War Museum and R4’s ‘In  Our Time’ series with Melvyn Bragg. He is also a writer and public speaker on modern history, with pieces in the Guardian, BBC History Magazine, the Spectator and the Washington Post. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He lives with his family in London.

My name is Krishna Thapa Magar, and my life is one of service. I grew up in the Nepal Himalaya, beneath Annapurna. At 19, one of the first to join the British Ghurka formed my vision of Himalaya and became the first to pass selection from RGR and enter the British SAS in the regiment’s history. For the past 26 years, I have served on the front line in Afghanistan and Iraq, on combat missions & in a training capacity. One of my roles supporting my fellow soldiers, my brothers, was a mountain specialist and mental health awareness. I have been to many dark places and know that I might not have survived to tell the tale without knowing my own culture of high Himalaya and eastern spiritual knowledge.

Dr Patrick Mileham was educated at Wellington College, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Cambridge. Commissioned in 1965, he served on operational tours in Aden and Northern Ireland, then with the British Army of the Rhine, the Yeomanry, as principal staff officer of the Universities Officer Training Corps, and in Defence Intelligence. From 1992 taking up university posts, he has worked with Chatham House, the Royal United Services Institute, Sandhurst and other military colleges, and later the Defence Academy. He has conducted various studies for the MOD, and has written numerous academic articles, chapters and histories, including his highly successful Yeomanry Regiments, which went into three editions (1985, 1994 and 2004) with a foreword by the doyen of cavalry authors, the late Marquess of Anglesey.

Giles Milton is the million-copy, internationally bestselling author of a dozen works of narrative history. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages. One of Milton's previous works, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, is currently being developed into a major screen project. Milton is the writer and narrator of the acclaimed narrative podcast series, Ministry of Secrets, produced by Sony and available on all platforms. He lives in London and Burgundy.

Aaron Moon is a former Royal Marines Commando who lost his leg in Afghanistan in 2009 after his vehicle was struck by an IED. Refusing to be defined by injury, Aaron has rebuilt his life with unshakable resilience. He went on to become a professional golfer, the world’s first amputee indoor skydiving instructor, a motivational speaker, and a TV personality on Channel 4’s Hunted. In January 2025, Aaron faced yet another battle for his life when he survived a catastrophic saddle blood clot. Doctors gave him little chance of making it through—but once again, he defied the odds. That fighting spirit, forged on the battlefield and tested in recovery, continues to drive him forward.

Roger Moorhouse is a specialist in modern German and Polish history, particularly the Third Reich and World War Two. He has written a number of books in this capacity, including Killing Hitler (2006), Berlin at War (2010), The Devils’ Alliance (2014) and the critically acclaimed First to Fight (2019), which was awarded the Polish Foreign Ministry History Prize in 2020. Roger’s books have appeared in more than 20 languages.

Rory Naismith is professor of early medieval history at the University of Cambridge and the author of prize-winning books Money and Power in Anglo-Saxon England, The Coinage of Southern England 796–865, Citadel of the Saxons, and Making Money in the Early Middle Ages.

James Newby is President and Chief Executive of the New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering (NMITE), a pioneering higher-education institution based in Hereford that is rethinking how engineers and technologists are educated to meet real-world challenges. An educational innovator and outspoken advocate for social mobility, he regularly writes and speaks about widening participation, skills, place-based growth and the need to challenge established systems in higher education that can inhibit innovation and opportunity.

Mark Nicol was born into an army family and has reported on UK military operations for 25 years. His fifth book explores the SAS’s history in Afghanistan from its biggest battle to its darkest episode, the suspected shooting of disarmed and surrendered insurgents on night raids. He is the only journalist to have spoken to soldiers who took part. He has also provided witness testimony to the High Court inquiry. Mark is the Daily Mail’s Defence and Diplomacy Editor and an international affairs commentator. He has also lectured at the Joint Services Command and Staff College. His previous titles have covered incidents such as the deaths of six Royal Military Policemen in Iraq.

Paul O'Keeffe is a lecturer and writer based in Liverpool. His acclaimed books include Waterloo: The Aftermath and, Culloden: Battle & Aftermath, described by the Daily Mail as ‘As vivid as the Ten O'Clock News... fascinating, detailed, meticulously researched... tremendous'.

Marsha O’Mahony is an author and oral historian with over 30 years’ experience in writing, journalism and community-focused storytelling. With academic roots in anthropology and development, she has documented the oral histories of the River Wye, the Gwent Levels and the Irish diaspora in the West Midlands. Her work centres on humanising data - bringing qualitative depth to quantitative facts to create meaning and engagement. She is currently a Story Fellow at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Sir Ben Okri was born in Minna, Nigeria. His childhood was divided between Nigeria, where he saw first-hand the consequences of war, and London. He has won many awards over the years, including the Booker Prize for Fiction, and is also an acclaimed essayist, playwright, and poet. In 2019 Astonishing the Gods was named as one of the BBC’s ‘100 Novels That Shaped Our World’.

Dr Bob Parr MBE is a 25-year veteran of the SAS and UK National Intelligence. He is an Associate of King’s College London and a Visiting Research Fellow with the Changing Character of War Centre at the University of Oxford.

Allison Pearson (Chair) is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author. She is a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and co-presents the popular Planet Normal podcast with Liam Halligan. Allison’s first novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It, was made into a movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker and her second novel, I Think I Love You, is soon to be a West End musical. She is a tireless advocate for free speech and a passionate supporter of Justice for Veterans.

Roland Philipps was a leading publisher for many years. A Spy Named Orphan, his first book, arose from lifelong connections to Donald Maclean and his story. It was shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2018, was a Daily Mail Book of the Year and received widespread critical acclaim. His second book, Victoire, was published by The Bodley Head in 2021.

Ollie Plunket served a decade in the British Army, as a Regular and Reservist Officer with The Rifles Regiment. Operational deployments include supporting coalition efforts to counter-ISIS in Iraq, NATO’s Enhanced Forward Prescence to deter Russian activity in Estonia, and the UK’s commitment to UN peacekeeping in Cyprus. Other deployments include Liberia, Sumatra, and Samoa. His final posting was as the military advisor (Equerry) to Queen Camilla, through the first three years of the new reign. Beyond service, he continues to work in an advisory capacity, in the private sector.

Oliver Price is a historian of Modern Britain. He completed his PhD in 2024 and has had work featured in publications including Contemporary British History, Modern British History and History Today.

Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (2021), The King's Shadow and Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity (2013), and was named one of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers in 2016.

Andrew Roberts (Lord Roberts of Belgravia) is a biographer and historian of international renown whose books include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (winner of the Wolfson Prize for History), Masters and Commanders (winner of the Emery Reves Award), The Storm of War (winner of the British Army Book Prize), Napoleon the Great (winner of the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoléon and the Los Angeles Times Biography Prize), George III (winner of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography) and Churchill: Walking with Destiny (Council on Foreign Relations Book Prize). Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of Literature and the Royal Historical Society, and a Trustee of the International Churchill Society. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies at King's College, London, and the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Andrea Sartori was born in 1964 at the British Military Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an academic family. Fleeing the leftist Peronist revolution, the family relocated to South Africa. A polyglot, Andrea is fluent in five languages and classically trained in Fine Arts and Romance Languages. Andrea’s career began in international diplomacy, as an interpreter for embassies, the UN, and legal firms, and speech writer in the SA Parliament. She met Mark Griffiths in 1995, and their collaboration began soon after. Together, they worked on several high-profile projects, including the SWAT NFC in South Africa. In 2008, Andrea and Mark moved to the UK, where Andrea continued her work as an interpreter.

Their indie publishing company, Pilgrim Scribes was established to facilitate this series of tomes which Andrea is writing and illustrating to give form to Mark’s remarkable story. Her work preserves the raw authenticity of Mark’s voice while crafting his incredible journey into a work of narrative weight.

Ruth Sherlock an award-winning foreign correspondent who has reported from some of the biggest stories of our time. As an international correspondent for National Public Radio, the US broadcaster she has reported on the unfolding conflict in Gaza and between the United States and Iran. Her reporting has been honoured with several American awards, including an Edward R Murrow, and team Dupont Columbia for the coverage of Gaza.

Previously based in Rome, she covered the death of Pope Francis and the election of the first American pope. As US Editor for The Daily Telegraph she covered the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump. Prior to that, as Middle East correspondent for The Daily Telegraph she covered The Arab Spring from Egypt, Libya and Syria. She was awarded Young Journalist of the Year at the 2012 British Press Awards. The judges praised “astonishing collection of work” saying she had demonstrated “skill as well as courage”. After living in Libya with rebel fighters, covering the whole war from the nascent revolution in Benghazi to the final capture of Col Gaddafi, Ruth moved to report on Syria. She made several trips into the country, both undercover in government-held areas and being smuggled into the country with rebel fighters.

Alice Sherwood is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at The Policy Institute at King’s College London. She has been a director of an open-source intelligence company, worked as a management consultant for Accenture, and in retail strategy and private equity. She has undergraduate degrees in philosophy and in chemistry, an MBA from INSEAD, and an MA in literary criticism and narrative non-fiction. She is currently a trustee of the Hay Castle Trust and Chair of the Beit Scientific Fellowship at Imperial College, and is a former trustee of the Hay Festival and the London Library. She is the author of the award-winning Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture (HarperCollins), which argues that although our counterfeit culture is shaped by the most powerful forces of economics, evolution, and technology, we can still come together to reclaim reality. She lives in London and Wales.

George Simm joined the Coldstream Guards in 1969 and served a total of 30 years in the British army, 25 of which were with the SAS. In that time, he served in a multitude of operations of a mostly low intensity, counter-terrorist nature. The fight against the IRA in Northern Ireland dominated much of his service, though operations in Colombia and Bosnia were also notable successes.

The Viscount Slim, Mark Slim, has spent over 30 years working in the commercial property industry, based in the City of London. He is an Executive Director of CBRE and had his own practice for many years. He is also a Non Executive Director of Oakley Properties and Chairman of Trustees for the Burma Star Memorial Fund. Until recently, he was a Non Executive Director of Muntons PLC, a position he held for 12 years.

Thomas Smith is keeper of the scholars at Rugby School and an honorary research fellow at Royal Holloway and the University of Kent. A leading expert on the Fifth Crusade, he is the author of Rewriting the First Crusade and Curia and Crusade. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2017.

Craig Smith DipHE, CMgr MCMI is Head of Education and Quality Assurance at Minerva Elite Performance, they help military leavers, dynamic professionals, and corporate teams unlock their people potential through evidence-based programmes that futureproof careers and organisations.

Lord Soames of Fletching is a British politician and was Minister for the Armed Forces between 1994 and 1997. He has a deep interest in and knowledge of defence and international relations, and speaks regularly in the House of Lords on matters of national security. Nicholas is the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill and will be talking at the Festival on Churchill, the Great Human Being.

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer OBE saw active service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands campaign, the Gulf War and the Balkans, as well as serving in the Far East, Cyprus and Germany. Key appointments include: Chief of Staff of an Armoured Brigade, Staff Officer at the Directorate of Special Forces and Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, among many others. Spicer has developed extensive knowledge of intelligence, counterterrorism, complex relations and protective security. In 2001 he founded the private security company Aegis, which has counted the UK, US and Italian governments among its clients. He is the author of An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair, a fast-moving account of his military life, including the events surrounding his time in Papua New Guinea when he was captured and held at gunpoint, A Dangerous Enterprise that charts the history of the little-known, yet remarkable 15th Motor Gunboat Flotilla, commanded directly by the Secret Intelligence Service and A Suspicion of Spies the first biography of Wilfred ‘Biffy’ Dunderdale, a ruthless and effective spymaster whose career spanned the Russian Revolution to the Cold War and beyond.

Nick Springate began his career in regional television. He moved to NBC News and then Sky News as a Reporter/Producer on its daily current affairs programme, Newsline. He joined the BBC working on Newsround before being appointed the BBC’s Senior Foreign Affairs Producer. Over the last 25 years, he has worked in over 90 countries and led the BBCs coverage from Afghanistan to Libya, Burma to Zimbabwe.

Responsible for the BBC’s coverage of Burma for a decade, he led the undercover reporting from inside the country including reporting on Cyclone Nargis, the 2010 elections and secured the first interview Aung San Suu Kyi after her release from house arrest. Reporting from Rakhine State, he led the coverage of the persecution of the Rohingya. Awards include the BBC’s first International Emmy for the Fall of Kabul in 2001, an Emmy for the Syrian refugee crisis, a BAFTA for Kosovo and RTS News Awards for the Fall of Milosevic and the Zimbabwe farm invasion. Nick’s support for freelance cameramen/women and local fixers/drivers was acknowledged when he received a Rory Peck Award. He is a member of the Trauma Rick Management network (TRiM) and supports colleagues’ industry wide. Away from news, Nick was the executive producer on the BBC's Top Gear Burma Special, Desert Island Discs with Aung San Suu Kyi, and The Reith Lectures.

Terry Stiastny is an author, journalist and broadcaster on national and international radio. She reports on British politics for Times Radio and is a frequent commentator on Monocle Radio. Her debut non-fiction book, Believable Lies, combines her interests in politics, international history and journalism. She has previously published two political thrillers: Acts of Omission and Conflicts of Interest (John Murray). Acts of Omission won Political Fiction Book of the Year at the Political Book Awards in 2015. Before that, Terry was a correspondent at the BBC, where she worked on radio and television, based in Westminster, Brussels and Berlin, and reporting from many other countries. She was educated at Oxford University, earning an M.Phil in International Relations.

Robert Templer is a writer and former professor at the Central European University, where he also founded a research centre on post-conflict recovery. From 2011–2012, he was director of the Asia Programme at the International Crisis Group and has visited Iran on many occasions. He is the author of four books including the acclaimed Shadows and Wind: A View of Modern Vietnam and A Basilisk Glance: Poisoners from Plato to Putin.

Mary Wakefield is a columnist and Commissioning Editor at the weekly magazine The Spectator for twenty years and has worked there since Boris Johnson was editor and has written for The Sun, Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Times.

Kevin J Weddle is a Distinguished Fellow and military historian at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A West Point graduate, he served over 28 years on active duty in the US Army before retiring as a colonel. Throughout his career he worked in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States and overseas including two combat deployments and command of a combat engineer battalion. He is a multiple award-winning author of books and articles, including the critically acclaimed and best-selling The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2021), winner of six national and international literary awards including the Gilder Lehrman Prize in Military History.

Lt Col (Retd) Richard Williams MBE MC, commissioned into the Parachute Regiment in 1989, was Commanding Officer 22 SAS from May 2005 to December 2007, having previously served as Officer Commanding G Squadron 22 SAS, the SAS Northern Ireland Troop and the Mountain Troop of D Squadron. He also served as a rifle platoon commander in 1 Para, as ADC to General Hew Pike commanding of 3 (UK) Division, and as the Chief of Staff of 7 Armoured Brigade.

Ash Winter served for 14 years in The Queen’s Royal Hussars in multiple roles across the globe including hostile and peacetime operations, latterly in the welfare sector that forged a new career following illness and injury. His recovery journey has seen him break a Guinness World Record, compete in multiple sporting disciplines and an Arctic expedition - overcoming adversity whilst testing his mental and physical resilience. Ash has an extensive welfare background with lived experience, supporting our veteran community and beyond in his roles with Help For Heroes, Men Walking & Talking and The Guild Of Mace-Bearers. Ash is a multi-award winning mental health advocate receiving the “Most Outstanding Charitable Contribution Award” for his efforts specifically within the veteran community in Herefordshire, and in 2023 Ash was awarded “The Community Award” in the English Veterans Awards for his work in the community. Ash is a published author of Keratoconus and Me detailing how he came to terms with his diagnosis and has compiled Why We Walk, a series of mental health stories for Men Walking And Talking.

Paul Wood covered a dozen wars for the BBC: in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Chechnya, Dafur, Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Balkans and Ukraine. He was the BBC’s defence correspondent, Middle East correspondent and a correspondent in Washington DC. He now writes on foreign affairs for the Spectator magazine and the i Paper.

Robin Yassin-Kassab is a British Syrian writer and journalist based in Scotland. He has been commenting on the Syrian Revolution and war since 2011 with by-lines in The Guardian, Foreign Policy and Newsweek, among others, and appearances on the BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera. He also writes for the quarterly journal, Critical Muslim, and is the author, with Leila al-Shami, of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War (shortlisted for the Folio Prize) and novel, The Road to Damascus. Yassin-Kassab is currently the English editor of the Prisons Museum, an NGO which documents and investigates prisons run by both ISIS and the Assad regime.