On Tuesday myself and the rest of the Lower VI History students went to Chalke Valley History Festival where we were able to attend a variety of different talks, discussions and ‘live history’ events, all of which were led by enthusiastic historians who were able to bring alive the history they were discussing. A particular favourite was by Phillips Payson O’Brien who spoke about his recent book ‘The Strategists’ and allowed the audience to pick which ‘strategists’ they would like him to speak about. I was really fascinated by the way he compared Hitler and Stalin’s ability to change their mind and adapt in situations of crisis. While some talks, like this one, were linked to our A Level course it was also really exciting to learn about topics we do not cover in school. For example in Shalina Patel’s talk on Empires she opened our eyes to a whole cross section of people who were affected by the British Empire in their own way and some who went on to play their own role in British History such as Sophia Duleep Singh who was a Suffragette and her sister, Catherine, who helped Jews escape Germany during WW2. Overall it was a fun and insightful day, which I think will be really useful for our studies going forward.

Jemimah, Lower VI