City to host UK's first military history festival

A military history festival that is the first of its kind in the UK is set to take place in Hereford.

The festival will feature talks and panel discussions about conflict and the lessons history provides in a time of geopolitical instability.

The line-up includes historian Antony Beevor, authors Ben Macintyre and Lord Daniel Finkelstein, as well as Winston Churchill's grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames.

The event will be set across three venues in the city - Hereford Cathedral, The Green Dragon Hotel and the Castle Green Pavilion - and will run from 26 to 28 September.

The festival will also feature discussions with Kate Adie, Philippe Sands, Claire Mulley, and Conn Iggulden, and explore global military history through a variety of themes.

A spokesperson for the festival said Hereford was the "perfect setting" for the event, as it was "steeped in history" and had been a "military stronghold for over two millennia".

Founder Christian Dangerfield said he had been planning the festival for five years.

"We started thinking about the festival in 2020, a long time before defence and geopolitics came back into focus in such a big way.

He added that the SAS headquarters in Credenhill, on the edge of the city was a "constant reminder" of what was going on in the world.

Mr Dangerfield said the range of the talks would be "very thought-provoking and stimulating".

The festival will also host a schools programme aimed at helping young people gain a better understanding of the role of military history in shaping the modern world.

The full event programme will be released later in the year.

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