History

Max Hastings

Operation Biting

Friday 31 May 2024, 2.30pm –  Global Stage

Military historian Max Hastings (Operation Pedestal, Abyss) tells an almost-forgotten story with his signature blend of top-down and bottom-up action detail. Operation Biting was a daring assault on the coast of Nazi-occupied Europe to capture key components of a newly-identified radar network. Amid heavy snow 120 men landed, some of whom were mis-dropped almost two miles from their objective. They nonetheless launched the assault, dismantled the German radar, and after three nail-biting hours in France and a fierce battle with Wehrmacht defenders, escaped in the nick of time. Meet the fascinating personalities and hear the wealth of previously unchronicled detail in this almost literally cliffhanging tale.

Nandini Das talks to David Olusoga

Courting India

Friday 31 May 2024, 7pm –  Wye Stage

In Nandini Das’ fascinating history of Britain’s first ambassador to the Mughal Empire Thomas Roe, Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire she offers an insider’s view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown. In conversation with historian David Olusoga she discusses her story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

Supported by The British Academy

Hay Castle Entry Ticket

Saturday 1 June 2024, 9am –  Hay Castle

A fantastic opportunity to see behind the scenes of this unique and historic building. Visit at a time of your choice during Castle opening hours.

A Hay Castle Trust event

Breakfast Tour with Tom True

Saturday 1 June 2024, 9am –  Hay Castle

Hay Castle’s executive director Tom True introduces the key moments and characters from the castle’s past followed by a continental breakfast.

A Hay Castle Trust event

Simon Schama

Choose Life: The Story of the Jews

Saturday 1 June 2024, 1pm –  Discovery Stage

Historian Simon Schama, author of The Story of the Jews and presenter of the accompanying BBC series, explores the rise of antisemitism, the questions posed by the Israel-Hamas war, and the impacts on Jewish communities around the world. Where is the path for peace when so much is at stake?

Sarah Marsh talks to Suzannah Lipscomb

Debut Discoveries: A Sign of Her Own

Saturday 1 June 2024, 4pm –  Meadow Stage

Sarah Marsh discusses her accomplished debut, inspired by her experiences of growing up deaf and her family’s history of deafness. Receiving an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell, Ellen Lark knows at once what he wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell’s student, when he confided in her his dream of producing a device to transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent, which is being challenged by rivals. But she has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain. Marsh talks to historian Professor Suzannah Lipscomb.

There will be a BSL interpreter at this event

Supported by Hawthornden Foundation

Roman Krznaric

History for Tomorrow

Saturday 1 June 2024, 7pm –  Wye Stage

What can the history of slave revolts teach us about the power of rebellion to tackle the climate crisis? How might understanding the origins of capitalism spark ideas for bringing AI under control? What could we learn from the coffee houses of Georgian London to tame social media? Social philosopher Roman Krznaric looks at 1,000 years of history to help us confront the challenges of the 21st century, from bridging the inequality gap and reducing the risks of genetic engineering, to reviving our faith in democracy and avoiding ecological collapse. In conversation with publisher and writer, John Mitchinson.

Hay Castle Entry Ticket

Sunday 2 June 2024, 9am –  Hay Castle

A fantastic opportunity to see behind the scenes of this unique and historic building. Visit at a time of your choice during Castle opening hours.

A Hay Castle Trust event

Breakfast Tour with Tom True

Sunday 2 June 2024, 9am –  Hay Castle

Hay Castle’s executive director Tom True introduces the key moments and characters from the castle’s past followed by a continental breakfast.

A Hay Castle Trust event

Selva Almada, Philippe Sands and Juan Gabriel Vásquez talk to Daniel Hahn

Explorers, Dreamers and Thieves

Sunday 2 June 2024, 1pm –  Wye Stage

The British Museum houses more than 60,000 objects from the Americas but only a small percentage have ever been exhibited to the public. To analyse this extensive collection, Hay Festival and the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research at the British Museum commissioned six writers, including Selva Almada (Argentina), Philippe Sands (UK) and Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia), with a specialist Museum team, to research the documents narrating how certain objects arrived at the institution.

These ranged from diaries, letters and sketches to reflections and transactions, all forming part of the process of acquisition and examination. Focusing on aspects of the archives that caught their attention, the six authors imagined their own narratives, whose protagonists are the adventurers, dreamers and thieves in the title of this anthology, published by Latin American specialists Charco Press.

Supported by the Embassy of Colombia

Sathnam Sanghera talks to David Olusoga

Colonialism

Sunday 2 June 2024, 2.30pm –  Discovery Stage

The British Empire is a subject of both shame and glorification. Journalist Sathnam Sanghera talks to historian David Olusoga about how our imperial past is everywhere: from how we live and think to the foundation of the NHS and even our response to the Covid-19 crisis. Sanghera is author of Empireland and most recently Empireworld, a look at how British imperialism has shaped the world. Olusoga’s latest book is Black History for Every Day of the Year.

South to South Conversations supported by Open Society Foundations

Dylan Jones and Tiffany Murray talk to John Mitchinson

Rock Stars and Memoirs

Sunday 2 June 2024, 2.30pm –  Meadow Stage

Jones and Murray discuss their memoirs, both captivating accounts of unusual lives in late twentieth century Britain, in which celebrities pop up regularly. Jones grew up in 1970s London, spending the next decade building a glittering career as a newspaper editor leading up to his multi-award-winning tenure at GQ. In These Foolish Things he reflects on how he sought to stir up music, politics and fashion. In My Family and Other Rock Stars, Murray recounts a freewheeling whirlwind of a childhood in the late 1970s, living with her mum, a Cordon Bleu chef, at the iconic recording studio Rockfield. At this place of legend, where some of the most famous rock albums of all time were recorded, the chances of bumping into Freddie Mercury or David Bowie were as normal as hopscotch and homework.

Charles Spencer talks to Richard Coles

A Very Private School

Sunday 2 June 2024, 5.30pm –  Discovery Stage

In 1972, an eight-year-old Spencer was sent to boarding school for the first time. The Earl recounts the trauma of being sent away from home. His poignant memoir and account of social history A Very Private School offers a clear-eyed, first-hand account of a culture of cruelty at the school he attended and gives insights into an antiquated boarding system. Drawing on his contemporaries’ and his own memories, he reflects on the hopelessness and abandonment he felt, the intense pain of homesickness and the appalling sense of inescapability.

Educated at Eton College and Oxford, Spencer became a historian, broadcaster and author (with four Sunday Times bestsellers, and A Very Private School being a No. 1 bestseller). He harnesses his talent for historical analysis to explore the long-lasting impact of his experiences, sharing this candid reckoning with Reverend Richard Coles, with whom he co-hosts the Rabbit Hole Detectives podcast (alongside Dr Cat Jarman).