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In 1942 the Luftwaffe had a stranglehold on Malta. In the months of April and May, they dropped more bombs on the Island than London in the entire Blitz. British attempts to bring in supplies were failing with heavy losses and the people of Malta were close to starvation. Winston Churchill made a personal decision that at all costs the island fortress must be saved. Operation Pedestal saw an armada of 50 British ships attempt to fight its way in convoy to the island. Max Hastings, one of Britain’s most acclaimed historians, brings to life in his trademark thrilling narrative this little-known yet pivotal naval battle, telling the story of Operation Pedestal – the fleet that ultimately saved Malta.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available for 30 days from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 25 October.

The Bayeux Tapestry famously tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066 – that much most people know, but there’s a lot more to this most celebrated of embroideries than that. What’s particularly interesting is to consider what’s not shown in the tapestry, and what that tells us about the motives of the design minds behind it. Join historian and content director of BBC History Magazine, David Musgrove, to explore the Tapestry’s brilliantly depicted but still enigmatic story of what happened in the fateful year of 1066. Full of fresh insights and unexpected discoveries he shares convincing explanations for many of the riddles left to us by the makers.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Strangely hidden from view, the British Empire remains a subject of both shame and glorification. In his bestselling and award-winning book historian and Times journalist Sathnam Sanghera shows 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. At a time of great division, when we are arguing about what it means to be British, Empireland is a groundbreaking revelation – a much-needed and enlightening portrait of contemporary British society, shining a light on everything that usually gets left unsaid.

‘Lucid but never simplistic, entertaining but never frivolous – Empireland takes a perfectly judged approach to it’s contentious but necessary subject.’ (Jonathan Coe)

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

From agonizing decisions on foreign air-strikes to making headlines about orgasms and sitting in on history-making moments at the UN, the life of a politician is never dull, and it’s also never been more important. With trademark humour and honesty, MP Jess Phillips lifts the lid on what a career in politics is really like and why it matters  – to all of us. Join her to hear the inside story of what’s really going on in Westminster and beyond and why now more than ever we all need to be a part of it.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

The last three years have seen a thrilling archaeological treasure trove emerge from beneath the streets of Gloucester, from new discoveries at Gloucester Castle, the old Roman city walls discovered beneath Kings’ Square, fragments of an altar found under Southgate Street and most recently the nationally important revelation of Whitefriars Priory under a demolished multi-storey carpark. Join city archaeologist Andrew Armstrong for a fascinating tour of three magnificent years of archaeological discovery in Gloucester.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Had the authorities listened to Frank Whittle the Battle of Britain would have been over within days with countless lives saved. We know the tale of the Dam Busters’ bouncing bomb but less well-known is the extraordinary story of how a British innovator created one of the twentieth-century’s most important inventions, the jet engine. Duncan Campbell-Smith, author of a major new biography, is joined by Ian Whittle, son of Sir Frank Whittle and himself a pilot, to explore the intriguing life and extraordinary story of one of Britain’s greatest pioneers, marking the 80^th anniversary of the very first jet engine flight in Brockworth just outside Gloucester. Chaired by the BBC’s Vernon Harwood.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Former BBC and Al Jazeera journalist Barnaby Phillips tells the dramatic and tragic tale of the Benin Bronzes; the story of a powerful West African kingdom and British imperial greed. He explores their removal in 1897, the subsequent dispersal of the Bronzes amongst the world’s great museums and private collections, and the intense debate about their future. Based for the BBC in Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa, Barnaby Phillips has gained access to an extraordinary range of people involved  from the Benin royal family to the descendants of British officers of 1897.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Can anyone truly understand Russia? Why does it have such a tricky relationship with the West? And why does it love a strong leader? Russia is one of the most powerful nations on Earth, a master game player on the global stage with a rich history of war and peace, poets and revolutionaries – yet it’s a country with no natural borders, no true central identity at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Professor Mark Galeotti – Britain’s foremost Russia expert – answers these questions and tells Russia’s story. From Ivan the Terrible to Catherine the Great, from the Romanovs to the Russian Revolution and from Chernobyl to the arrival of an obscure politician named Vladimir Putin.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Simon Thurley, former chief of English Heritage and leading architectural historian, tells us the story of the Stuart dynasty – a breathless soap opera played out in just a hundred years – through an array of magnificent buildings that span Europe. From Charles II’s Turkish Baths in Whitehall, where he seduced his mistresses, to James I’s extraordinary Newmarket ‘housing estate’ he gives a fascinating insight into the everyday life of the monarchy through the buildings in which they lived.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Warrior Queen Æthelflæd, buried in Gloucester in 918, is one of the most remarkable women in medieval Britain, but the fragmentary records of her career are a striking example of the erasure of women’s history. Eldest child of Alfred the Great, she governed the ancient kingdom of the Mercians for 32 years, the last eight as sole ruler. She founded cities, built fortresses and even led her troops into battle against the Danes, playing a crucial role in the creation of the kingdom of the English that emerged in the 920s under her foster son Athelstan. In this riveting illustrated talk, historian and broadcaster Michael Wood shares his latest new discoveries about the life, times and legacy of the Lady of the Mercians

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s invasion of Russia in June 1941, aimed at nothing less than a war of extermination to annihilate Soviet communism, but it led to the destruction of the Third Reich, and was cataclysmic for Germany, with millions killed. Drawing on unseen archival material, top broadcaster and historian Jonathan Dimbleby puts Barbarossa in its proper place in history for the first time, transforming our understanding of WW2 and the twentieth century. ‘Like a fast-moving juggernaut of horror, Jonathan Dimbleby’s Barbarossa is a page-turning descent into hell and back. Part warning, part fable, but all too true, this fresh and compelling account of Hitler’s failed invasion of the Soviet Union should be on everyone’s reading list for 2021’. (Amanda Foreman).

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Why did Henry VIII marry six times? Why did Anne Boleyn have to die? Why did Elizabeth I’s courtiers hail her as goddess come to earth? In this groundbreaking talk Sarah Gristwood reveals the way courtly love made and marred the Tudor dynasty. She dissects the codes of love, desire and power first laid out in medieval literature unveiling romantic obsessions that shaped both the Tudors and the history of the Crown through the centuries and right up to the present day.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Hans Holbein the Younger is celebrated for his beautiful and iconic portraits including Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, Anne Of Cleves, Jane Seymour, Thomas More and a dazzling array of the Tudor lords and ladies he encountered during his two stays in England. These rich and symbolic images define our perception of Henry’s court. Award winning biographer and filmmaker Franny Moyle traces the life and work of an extraordinary, pioneering artist against the backdrop of an era of political turbulence and change, to which his art offers a subtle and endlessly refracting mirror. And she explores his compelling relationship with Henry VIII.‘This is a great thrusting codpiece of a book. It’s big, bombastic and richly brocaded…I take my feathered cap off to Franny Moyle’. (The Times)

‘Evokes the painter and his world as vividly as a Holbein masterpiece’ (Tracy Borman).

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Join us to explore the extraordinary life and legacy of Alan Turing, codebreaking pioneer during the years of the Second World War, now an icon appearing on the latest £50 note. Was he in fact really a codebreaker? What is the significance of Alan Turing’s trial, his suicide and the Royal Pardon? What did he make of AI? His nephew Dermot Turing uncovers the real man behind the myth, from Turing‘s family roots in Scotland and India to codebreaking at Bletchley Park and beyond, revealing many little-known facts: his mixed-race heritage, the importance of women in his career, and his courage, humour and defiance. Join him to discover a fresh legacy of Alan Turing for the 21st century.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Within a decade of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 Gloucester had been selected as a key location from which to launch campaigns against the hostile tribes of South Wales. Gloucester therefore lay on the western frontier of the new province, a crucial and dangerous location. Drawing on recent archaeological discoveries, Time Team expert and head of Cotswold Archaeology Neil Holbrook examines why Gloucester was chosen as a legionary base, explores the military infrastructure created, and explains how the campaigns and ultimate conquest were accomplished. 

Join him as he tells the extraordinary story of the Roman Army’s march westward, meet some of the very first citizens of the city and find out how they lived.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

If you stand today in the middle of Gloucester, you’re above 2,000 years of history: a Roman fortress, a Saxon royal centre, a prosperous medieval market town, a Roundhead bastion and a Victorian industrial hub. Join city archaeologist Andrew Armstrong and local historian and illustrator Phil Moss as they tell the story of Gloucester through its amazing archaeological discoveries and its magnificent buildings, celebrated in the Festival’s new book Gloucester: Recreating the Past and make a rallying cry to protect the city’s rich heritage.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

From Medusa to Medea, Penelope to Pandora, women in Greek myths are often painted (usually by men) as monstrous, devious, vengeful or just plain evil. Classicist, stand-up comedian and Radio 4 broadcaster, Natalie Haynes returns with her brand new show to put the record straight: a sharp, witty and hilarious retelling of the stories of the Greek Myths: ‘Beyoncé, Star Trek, Ray Harryhausen… the best book about Greek myths you will ever read, absolutely brimming with subversive enthusiasm.’(Mark Haddon).

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available for 30 days from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 25 October.

The Battle of the Imjin River in 1951 was a major turning point of the Korean War, when the communist advance from the North was met in the bloodiest battle endured by the British Army since WW2. 700 men of the Gloucester Regiment faced more than 10,000 Chinese. Marking its 70th anniversary, leading historian Dan Snow explores the history of the battle and is joined by veterans of the battle Brian Hamblett and Tommy Clough, who were Chinese prisoners of war for more than two years. They discuss their battle experiences, Tommy’s bid to escape the prison camp and the role of British soldiers in the Korean War.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Colonel Bob Stewart, the first United Nations Military Commander of British Forces in the Bosnian War, became widely known as ‘Bosnia Bob’ by winning the confidence of the world’s media and lasting respect from soldiers of all ranks in very difficult circumstances, himself a target for sniper bullets. He shares his own experiences of the brutal conflict, the events he witnessed and what it taught him. 30 years on he offers a frank, eye-witness account of his experiences in Srebrenica and discusses the repercussions of the Bosnian War echoing down through the decades.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

An exhilarating high-stakes tale of grit, skulduggery and raw power.  From the high politics of Yalta to the desperate scramble to break the Soviet stranglehold of Berlin with the greatest aerial operation in history, Giles Milton tells the epic story of the first battle of the Cold War between 1945 and 1949. He explores how it shaped the modern world and set the path toward the ultimate Cold War frontier – the Berlin Wall – ‘brilliantly re-capturing  the febrile atmosphere of Berlin in the first four years after the Second World War’. (Andrew Roberts)

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Join us for the premiere of a brand new documentary produced in conjunction with the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum exploring the Battle of Imjin River and its lasting legacy in Gloucester. The film will highlight the extraordinary personal testimonies of the men who fought on the Imjin, and how on the 70th anniversary its story and impact continues to be felt.

This is followed by a discussion with the Korean Ambassador and SOGM Chair Christopher Ryland – with a filmed contribution from Jeremy Hunt MP – chaired by Gloucester MP Richard Graham exploring how the links forged in war between the UK and Korea are recognised and relevant today as part of the UK’s Indo-Pacific pivot, and what role Gloucestershire can play in this.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

History’s big decisions may have changed the world but how did leaders reach them? What clever shortcuts did they use, and how can we apply their thinking today? Marcus du Sautoy, presenter of the BBC’s Story of Maths and Oxford Professor for the Public Understanding of Science is joined by Janina Ramirez to explore some of history’s most intriguing decisions – from the building of the cities around the Euphrates 5,000 years ago to Napoleon’s 1812 March on Moscow – how they were made, what they led to, the shortcuts the decision-makers used and what we can learnt from them.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

From novel to TV screen, the world of Sherlock Holmes feels really familiar, but the reality of Victorian life was often a much darker one. So what can the world of Sherlock Holmes teach us? And what – from poverty to politics, prejudice to prostitution – does it leave out? Hallie Rubenhold, author of the award-winning The Five and Shrabani Basu, creator of Victoria & Abdul and now The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer, joins Sherlock-lover Janina Ramirez to explore the real world of Sherlock Holmes, seek out the hidden histories of Victorian and Edwardian England and reveal the powerful stories of lives still to be told.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Vanley Burke – ‘the godfather of black British photography’ – is joined by leading writer and campaigner Patrick Vernon OBE, creator of the 100 Great Black Britons list and co-author of the book, as they use a special selection of his iconic photographs as a starting point to explore the last 50 years of Black British history. With Vanley Burke’s body of work regarded as “the greatest photographic record of African Caribbean people in post-war Britain” (BBC Radio 4), they share a unique perspective on the history of 20th century Britain through the lens of one of its greatest photographers. This event is chaired by leading poet and archivist Panya Banjoko who is co-founder of the Nottingham Black Archive.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

Visit History, Her Story, Their Story, Our Story for details of Vanley Burke’s exciting new exhibition and project. A City Voices Partnership Project supported by Gloucestershire Heritage Hub and Fresh Air Foundations

Women spies played a pivotal role in the Cold War and World War Two. In June 1953 Soviet spy Ethel Rosenberg was executed – and her case became an American obsession at the height of the Cold War. Her conviction for conspiracy to commit espionage remains extremely controversial and is explored in Anne Sebba’s bestselling book. Helen Fry’s new book MI9 reveals the extraordinary role daring and dangerous women spies played in WW2.  Join them as they explore women spies, lies and justice and discuss the extraordinary lives of  some of the most intriguing women spies of the twentieth century.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available for from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.

How do Chinese dynasties collapse and will the Chinese Communist Party prove different? If China is the world’s only successful communist party, what does that mean for democracy – and how should we react? Former British Trade Commissioner China and All Party Parliamentary China Group Chair Richard Graham MP talks China with top historian and author Rana Mitter, Oxford University Professor of History and Politics of Modern China.

This is a pre-recorded event which will be available from 9am on 25 September to 9pm on 31 January 2022.