At the end of the Summer term, on Saturday 28 June, a group of Bryanston teachers and Year 12 (A3) historians attended a keynote talk delivered by Old Bryanstonian Tim Bouverie, at the Chalke Valley History Festival.
The festival offers pupils the opportunity to immerse themselves in the past, featuring talks by renowned experts, riveting discussions, debates and interactive experiences.
As one of the talk sponsors, Bryanston is a long-standing supporter of the event and this year’s visit to listen to Tim’s talk gave pupils a fascinating insight into the high-politics of second world war alliances. A regular speaker at Chalke Valley History Festival, Tim’s talk this year focused on his latest book, ‘Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler’. His talk took the audience through the fascinating relationships between the key Allied leaders, their relationships and their characters, as well as the peripheral players.
History Teacher Pippa Quarrell, commented: “Tim’s talk was hugely entertaining – reminding those of us who knew him at Bryanston of his considerable acting talents (and impeccable memory for very long quotes!), and giving us fascinating insight into this important period of history.”
After graduating from Oxford University, Tim began his career by working on historical and political documentaries, before joining Channel 4 News, where he was a political journalist alongside Michael Crick. Since moving into full-time writing, he’s been the 2022 Alistair Horne Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and he regularly reviews history and politics books for The Times, Spectator, Observer and Daily Telegraph. His first book, ‘Appeasing Hitler – Chamberlain, Churchill and the road to War’ was a best-seller and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in Political Writing in 2020.
