This year Gloucester History Festival will explore the theme of Frontiers and Pioneers

2021 sees a multitude of significant anniversaries both close to home and further afield: the end of the USSR 30 years ago, the building of the Berlin Wall and Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight 60 years ago, the Battle of the Imjin River during the Korean War 70 years ago and, much further back, this May marks the 550th anniversary of Gloucester’s city gates closing against Margaret of Anjou as she approached Gloucester before the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. All feature frontiers or pioneers at the heart of the story.

This year also sees the anniversaries of a host of ground-breaking pioneers including Frank Whittle’s very first jet engine flight in Brockworth 80 years ago and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gloucester-born Herbert Cecil Booth who invented the vacuum cleaner – changing our everyday lives to this day.

2021’s anniversaries mark frontiers and pioneers of all kinds, inspiring a festival full of stories of crossing boundaries, new discoveries, changes and advancements of the past.