23rd–29th June 2025 - Broad Chalke, Salisbury
A recording from Chalke Valley History Festival 2018, from a morning of exclusive talks and demonstrations looking at the story of the British Airborne Forces in #WW2.
Here is former Commander of 3 Para in Afghanistan, Stuart Total in conversation with Fred Glover who was in 9th Para on 6th June 1944, tasked with jumping ahead of the main seaborne allied landing, Operation Neptune, to secure the left flank of the invasion and facilitate the seaborne landing.
Audio from a talk at Chalke Valley History Festival on Saturday 28th June 2014 with Geoff Pattinson and David Render, chaired by Stuart Tootal.
In the 70th Anniversary year of the D-Day landings in Normandy, we were very fortunate to have two veterans of that campaign talking about their experiences. Fred Glover was in 9 Para, and David Render served with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. Chairing the discussion was Stuart Tootal, former Commander of 3 Para in Afghanistan. This was a rare treat.
Today it has been announced that British historian and author Antony Beevor is the winner of the prestigious 2014 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
The Pritzker Literature Award, which includes a medallion, citation, and $100,000 honorarium, recognizes and honours the contributions of a living author for a body of work dedicated to enriching the understanding of military history.
“Winning this award is, for me, the greatest honor imaginable—partly because of the reputation of the prize, but also because on the panel of judges are some of the historians that I admire most in the world,”
Beevor – one of the patrons at the Chalke Valley History Festival – said.
“It may be for lifetime achievement, which has a retrospective air in some ways, but I think the wonderful idea is that it is the greatest carrot imaginable to push you forward and keep you writing.”
Beevor is speaking at CVHF on Thursday evening about D-Day.
Click here if you want tickets to this event as they are going fast!
Xander Drury interviews leading historian and broadcaster Dan Snow on the opening day of Chalke Valley History Festival 2014, speaking on what makes history such an important and special subject as well as sharing his thoughts on D-Day, the World Cup and Twitter.
Xander Drury in conversation with Dan Snow
Recording from Ben Macintyre’s talk, ‘Double Cross: The True Story of The D-Day Spies’ for CVHF, Sunday, 30th June 2013.
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit. At the heart of the deception was the ‘Double Cross System’, a team of double agents whose bravery, treachery, greed and inspiration succeeded in convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong Allied invasion force. These were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of duplicity saved thousands of lives. In this talk, bestselling author, Ben MacIntyre, tells the astonishing tale of Operation Fortitude, the D-Day deception plan, recounted with his usual encyclopaedic knowledge and driest of wits. This is a talk for all fans of espionage and derring-do.
Exclusively for the CVHF website, Mayor of London Boris Johnson afforded some time ahead of his talk at Chalke Valley History Festival 2013 discussing with Xander Drury the importance of Ancient History and all things London.
Camera: John E Fry
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