Some of the best shots from Day Two of CVHF13 courtesy of John Fry, capturing an absolutely glorious Tuesday in Wiltshire with Paddy Ashdown, Stephen Alford and David Carpenter all in the spotlight (and sunlight).

For regular updates and news, do follow us on Twitter @CVHISTORYFEST

After months of feverish anticipation, the stage is set. CVHF has opened its gates today for the third year and it already promises to be an unforgettable week.

With over 30,000 passionate punters poised to descend on our Wiltshire site this week to savour seven action packed days devoted to history, CVHF has preserved its claim to be one of the most evolving and diverse festivals in the UK.

And it’s not hard to see why the interest is in this year’s festival is so high with the likes of Boris Johnson, Tom Stoppard, Joanna Lumley, Rupert Everett and Ian Hislop – to name but a few – participating in CVHF13.

Already things are well under way as the Chalke Valley Festival for Schools has opened proceedings with talks from Chris Lloyd, Tim West and Natalie Haynes (alongside a plethora of Living History attractions) drawing in around 1,100 students over the next two days.

However, kicking off the festival proper tonight will be the Holland brothers, Guy Walters, Laurence Rees and many, many more leading figures from the world of history.

For regular updates on all the latest from the festival do check:

– the CVHF Blog http://www.cvhf.org.uk/category/blog

– the CVHF facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Daily-Mail-Chalke-Valley-History-Festival/321460004642710

– the CVHF twitter feed https://twitter.com/CVHISTORYFEST (@CVHISTORYFEST)

Xander Drury 

The Festival is launching a very exciting new Chalke Valley Archaeology project this year, led by Alex Langlands, one of the stars of the BBC’s hugely successful historic Farms series.  Alex has recently just completed his PhD on Anglo-Saxon history in the Wessex area, and so combined with his considerable archaeological experience, is well-placed to conduct what we hope will be the first of a series of annual digs in the Valley.  As Michael Wood, another CVHF regular, was quick to point out, the Chalke Valley has some of the best Anglo-Saxon records of anywhere in the country, including the first recorded woman’s will, from the village of Alvediston.  So it’s apt that our first dig should be at a deserted medieval site at the edge of that village – a site where a horde of Roman coins was earlier discovered.  It makes our dig on June 16th a tantalising prospect…

Also joining us are renowned archaeologists Jackie McKinley, one of our leading bones experts and a former Time Team regular, and Mike Heaton, an expert on building archaeology.  We’re also joined by Adrian Green, the Director of the quite superb Salisbury Museum.

In an effort to brief those attending the dig and to give a taster of what might be to come, Alex, Jackie and Mike will be giving a free talk to all those volunteers signed up for the dig tomorrow night, Friday 31st May, at 7.30pm in Broad Chalke Village Hall.  During the course of the evening, they will be sharing some of their discoveries during the pre-dig surveys and research work they have been carrying out.

You don’t have to be signed up for the Dig to come along tomorrow, and to be honest, it’ll be a fascinating talk in its own right.  And we can promise you one thing: if you weren’t interested in archaeology before hand, you will be by the time their talk is over.

First come, first served – see you there tomorrow!

 

 

To tie-in with the 70th Anniversary, James Holland, Co-Chair of the Festival and best-selling author of the acclaimed account of the Dams Raid, will be giving a talk on this most famous of all wartime raids.  Highlighting some of known and lesser-known characters involved, he will explain how this was an even more impressive operation than most people think and will offer a fresh analysis of the far-reaching and devastating effects of the raid.  He also wrote and presented a BAFTA-shortlisted BBC film on the subject and will be giving the after dinner speech at the 70th Anniversary Dinner at RAF Scampton on 17th May, the actual anniversary date. We are delighted to have this additional talk at the special price of £10.