Chalke Talk

The podcast from the Chalke Valley History Festival
Released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings

Chalke Talks for THEME: War


  • 10. FIGHTING WITH THE FRENCH RESISTANCE
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    Jean Jammes was a schoolboy in 1944 when, that summer, he joined the Resistance group led by his father in the countryside around Épernon. Involved in numerous actions of sabotage, he also helped capture three German officers and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In this very special event he talks to Peter Caddick-Adams about […]

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  • 11. THE NOBLE REVOLT: THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
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    John Adamson is one of the country’s most brilliant historians and a leading authority on the Civil War. In this talk, he discusses what he calls ‘the noble revolt,’ challenging some of our perceptions of that conflict between Parliament and King while casting new and relevant light onto one of the most tumultuous and significant […]

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  • 13. THE CRUSADES AND MEDIEVAL WARFARE
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    In this talk for senior schools, Professor Jeremy Black gives an insight into the motivations of the Crusaders. In addition to the notion that Jerusalem should be ‘freed’, this period saw the expansionism of European feudal society, a new role for the papacy, and developing commercial opportunities, as well as a desire to protect Constantinople. […]

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  • 14. APPEASING HITLER: CHAMBERLAIN, CHURCHILL AND THE ROAD TO WAR
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    On 30th September 1938, Neville Chamberlain stepped off an aeroplane and announced that his visit to Hitler had averted the greatest crisis in recent memory. He declared it was ‘peace for our time’, but within a year Britain was at war with Germany. Tim Bouverie gives a compelling reappraisal of the immense drama of those […]

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  • 23. THE FIRST WORLD WAR: THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE AND LEGACY
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    The First World War still captures the imagination, but how do you paint a picture of people that are long gone? How do you put their existence in context with the manner in which they died, so that future generations retain a connection to the human impact of WW1 that transcends tales of strategic success […]

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  • 26. D-DAY: BY THOSE WHO WERE THERE
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    In this moving event to mark the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, two veterans of that campaign talk about their experiences with Stuart Tootal, former commander of 3 Para in Afghanistan. Fred Glover (1926-2020) was the only British infantryman known to have fought with the French Resistance while David Render (1925-1917) served with the Sherwood Rangers […]

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  • 27. KING ALFRED AND THE BATTLE FOR WESSEX
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    Broadcaster and historian Professor Michael Wood tells the incredible story of King Alfred’s Battle for Wessex. After defeat at Chippenham, Alfred’s kingdom was reduced to a postage stamp of marshland in Somerset, yet he survived and built his army again, leading them to victory at Ethandun. It is unquestionably one of the great moments in […]

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  • 29. THE SECRET LIFE OF BLETCHLEY PARK
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    The code breakers of Bletchley Park played an absolutely crucial part in the Allied victory in the Second World War. Best-selling historian Sinclair McKay tackles the story of this iconic place, drawing on his conversations with many of the brilliant men and women who served there during the war.

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  • 30. THE BURNING CHAMBERS: THE FRENCH WARS OF RELIGION, HUGUENOTS v CATHOLICS
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    Kate Mosse discusses one of the darkest periods in French history. The Wars of Religion began in 1562 and ended, after millions had been massacred or displaced, with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. She examines the power struggles between Catholic and Protestant factions in Carcassonne, Paris, London and Amsterdam and how this dark history […]

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  • 33. SOLDIER, SPY: A SURVIVOR’S TALE
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    Victor Gregg (born 1919) had an extraordinary war and his adventures did not end in 1945. In this very special event, he discusses with Rick Stroud what it was like fighting in North Africa, escaping the ruins of Dresden where he had been a prisoner of war on the night the city was bombed, and […]

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  • 36. THEY CALLED IT PASSCHENDAELE
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    Lyn Macdonald remains revered as the great chronicler of the human experience of the Western Front and has recorded interviews with more veterans of the First World War than any other. In this talk she returns to the subject of her first book, the Battle of Passchendaele, fought over a hundred years ago in 1917, […]

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  • 41. THE AGINCOURT ARCHER
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    Experimental archaeologist Dave Allan discusses the daily life of an English longbowman from his training to the skills needed. Drawing upon real artefacts from different bows to arrowheads, this offers a compelling insight.

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  • VIETNAM: AN EPIC TRAGEDY 1945-1975
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    In an acclaimed retelling of the Vietnam tragedy, Max Hastings offers a balanced account of how and why the Vietnam War unfolded as it did, and a gripping description of what it was like to take part, based on the testimony of scores of participants – communist and anti-communist Vietnamese, Chinese railway engineers, Soviet missile […]

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  • CHINA’S WAR WITH JAPAN 1937-45: A STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
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    In 1937 the ‘Marco Polo Bridge Incident’ plunged China and Japan into a conflict of extraordinary duration and ferocity – a war that would result in many millions of deaths and completely reshape East Asia in ways that we continue to confront today. Professor Rana Mitter explains how Japan’s failure to defeat China was the […]

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  • THE WOMAN WHO SAVED THE CHILDREN: EGLANTYNE JEBB
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    Eglantyne Jebb not only helped save millions of lives, she also permanently changed the way the world treats children through the foundation of Save the Children. Clare Mulley brings to life this brilliant, charismatic, and passionate woman, whose work took her between drawing rooms and war zones, defying convention and breaking the law, until she […]

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  • ARNHEM: THE BATTLE FOR THE BRIDGES, 1944
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    The battle of Arnhem, the great airborne fight for the bridges in 1944, was a courageous strategic gamble that failed. Britain’s best- selling historian Antony Beevor, using often overlooked sources from Allied and German archives, reconstructs the terrible reality of the fighting and questions whether this plan to end the war could ever have worked, […]

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  • 84. THE CAUSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
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    In this talk for secondary school pupils, Professor Frank McDonough examines the causes of WWII. He looks at long-term factors such as the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations and the depression following the Wall Street Crash, before turning to Hitler. He was an exceptional individual who had laid out his expansionist intentions as […]

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  • 85. IN THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF: BROTHER, FATHER, TEACHER, SPY
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    Michael Morpurgo, one of Britain’s best-loved writers of children’s books, tells the incredible, true story of his uncles during World War II. The tale follows two brothers; Francis was a pacifist and conscientious objector, while Pieter signed up to fight. What happened next changed the course of Francis’s life forever, and threw him into the […]

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  • 86. OUR BOYS: THE STORY OF A FALKLANDS PARATROOPER
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    Helen Parr brings to life the human experiences of the paratroopers who fought in the Falklands, and examines the long aftermath of that short and symbolic war. She looks at the social and cultural history of a regiment with an aggressive reputation, while intertwining the personal story of her uncle who was killed during the […]

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  • THE BATTLE OF ISANDLWANA
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    The Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 was one of the most devastating defeats suffered by Britain at the hands of local inhabitants. The incredible Douglas Rattray explains the battle from both sides, highlighting the courage of the desperate British soldiers and the gallantry of the proud Zulu warriors. Our Eurocentric understanding of this titanic clash […]

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  • 88. EAST-WEST STREET: BACK TO THE 1930’s?
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    Acclaimed international human rights lawyer and winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize, Philippe Sands, traces the origins of the terms ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity,’ a journey that took him on a very personal quest to uncover the tragic fate of the Jewish communities in Lviv and the area around it in what is […]

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  • 90. THE SPANISH ARMADA
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    In 1585 Spain was the most powerful empire in the known world. As tensions between Protestant England and Catholic Spain grew, Spain decided to invade England and so launched the Spanish Armada. Sam Willis gives a thrilling account that explains how the English managed to overthrow the Spanish invasion, who the key figures were and […]

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  • 94. WHEN BRITAIN BURNED THE WHITE HOUSE: THE 1814 INVASION OF WASHINGTON
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    In August 1814, the United States’ army was defeated in battle by a British invading force just outside Washington DC. In his compelling style, broadcaster and journalist Peter Snow recounts this unparalleled moment in American history, its far-reaching consequences for both sides and Britain’s and America’s decision never again to fight each other. 

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  • 98. CABINET’S FINEST HOUR: THE HIDDEN AGENDA OF MAY 1940
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    Drawing on documents and minutes of the British War Cabinet meetings of May 1940, former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen reveals the passionate debates within the Cabinet that prevented Britain from seeking a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany. He explains how the post-war denial of the existence of these debates has had far-reaching consequences for Britain’s […]

  • 102. MODERN IRAN: REVOLUTIONS, REPUBLIC AND WAR
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    Iran remains an enigma to most of us in the West: once Persia, a land rich in culture, exoticism and history, but more recently a country embroiled in wars and an Islamic revolution. In this talk, Ali Ansari, Professor of Iranian History at the University of St Andrews, explains why modern Iran has evolved in […]

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  • 105. THE FIGHTER PILOTS
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    We rightly venerate those who fought in the Battle of Britain but what of those other fighter pilots who fought in World War II? Keith Quilter was a naval carrier pilot flying Corsairs in the Pacific, while Colin Bell flew Mosquitoes over Germany as part of the Light Night Strike Force. For both, the danger […]

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  • 106. AIRFORCE BLUE: THE RAF IN WORLD WAR TWO- SPEARHEAD OF VICTORY
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    Patrick Bishop, an outstanding historian of the wartime RAF, examines the high point of the RAF’s existence – the Second World War – when the air force saved the nation from defeat and then led the advance to victory. From the choppy seas of the Atlantic to the sands of the Western Desert to the […]

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  • 107. MAPS OF WAR: MAPPING CONFLICT THROUGH THE CENTURIES
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    In this talk, Professor Jeremy Black explains how the development of mapping from the Renaissance onwards provides us with an invaluable guide to the history of warfare. From the impact of printing through to the two World Wars and beyond, this is a fascinating and revealing talk from one of our very finest historians.

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  • 112. D-DAY: COULD THE GERMANS HAVE WON?
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    The Allied invasion of Europe involved years of painstaking preparation and mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. In addition to covering the Allies’ build-up to the invasion, Peter Caddick-Adams examines the German preparations: the formidable Atlantikwall and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s plans to make Europe impregnable. This talk reveals precisely […]

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  • 113. LAWRENCE OF BURMA: DADLAND
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    Winner of the 2016 Costa Biography prize, Keggie Carew, recounts how, as her ageing father descended into dementia, she undertook a quest to learn about his past. In World War II Tom Carew was parachuted behind the lines into France, then Burma where he fought with Burmese guerrillas helping not only to defeat Japan but […]

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  • 114. 1944 AT HIGHCLERE CASTLE
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    In 1944 Highclere Castle was a home for child evacuees; General Patton arrived for lunch in June; whilst two P-38 planes crashed just above the Castle whilst practising for D-Day. The Land Girls and retired estate workers were on the farm and in the kitchen gardens – Dig for Victory was part of the survival plan. Fiona Carnarvon paints a fascinating portrait of an […]

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  • 118. MARJORIE CLARK WITH THE SOE IN ITALY
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    Tim Clark and Nick Cook, co-authors of Monopoli Blues, talk to Tim’s mother, former SOE/FANY wireless operator, Marjorie Clark, about her wartime experiences and those of her husband Bob, whom she met when they served with the SOE in Italy. Part tale of derring-do, part wartime romance, it is also the story of Tim’s journey […]

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  • 120. SECRET PIGEON SERVICE: OPERATION COLUMBA, RESISTANCE & THE STRUGGLE TO LIBERATE OCCUPIED EUROPE
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    Between 1941 and 1944, sixteen thousand pigeons were dropped as part of ‘Columba’ – a secret British operation to bring back intelligence from those living under Nazi occupation. Gordon Corera, Security Correspondent for BBC news, tells a dramatic and tragic tale of espionage, starring not just pigeons but the networks of ordinary people who were […]

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  • 121. WAS HITLER A POPULAR DICTATOR?
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    In this talk for junior schools, Chris Culpin shows how Hitler disdained democracy and thereby defeated his political opponents leaving “One people, one nation, one leader”. Was he popular? He was certainly successful as there was no opposition, nor opposition newspapers. This was partly through fear but also as a result of brilliant propaganda with […]

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  • 123. BOOTS ON THE GROUND: BRITAIN AND HER ARMY SINCE 1945
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    In May 1945, the German High Command surrendered to the Allies on Lüneberg Heath. Seventy years later, the British Army finally left their garrisons next to the Heath. General the Lord Dannatt, former Chief of General Staff, follows the compelling story of the British Army since then, tracing Britain’s transformation from a leading military power […]

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  • 127. COPENHAGEN AND AFTER
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    Michael Frayn is one of our most successful and revered playwrights and Copenhagen one of his highly acclaimed and award-winning plays. In this very special talk he discusses the play’s subject: the visit of German atomic scientist Werner Heisenberg to Copenhagen in 1941 to visit fellow scientists Margrethe and Niels Bohr and their subsequent discussions […]

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  • 131. DUNKIRK VETERAN
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    Here the remarkable 101-year-old John Hamilton discusses his extraordinarily varied military career with Major General Andrew Cumming. Over the course of 25 years, he was evacuated from Dunkirk, worked as an instructor at the Recce Corps Training Centre in Catterick, took the German surrender in Norway, commanded the A Squadron of the King’s Dragoon Guards […]

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  • 134. CATASTROPHE: EUROPE GOES TO WAR, 1914
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    Journalist, editor and acclaimed author Sir Max Hastings tells the story of how Europe went to war in 1914 precipitating the first of the twentieth century’s great tragedies. He challenges the view of some modern historians that British participation was unnecessary and concludes with the Christmas truces when the struggle had lapsed into the stalemate […]

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  • 136. TROY STORY
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    Star of BBC Radio 4, Natalie Haynes brings her unique combination of ancient history and stand-up comedy to the story of the Trojan War. The women whose lives the war affected largely remained in the shadows, from the Amazon warrior, Penthesilea, to the priestess who foresaw the war, Cassandra. These women will be returned to […]

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  • 137. THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE: THE GREATEST SIEGE IN HISTORY
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    In 1453 the hordes of Islam are at the walls of Constantinople. The fate of all Europe hangs on a heroic garrison who’d answered the call of the last Roman Emperor. Would their courage be enough? James Heneage tells the story of the most thrilling siege in history and explains why catastrophe in 1453 turned […]

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