hamburger
Buxton International Festival

Perspectives - Truth Stranger Than History

Buxton Opera Housebutton--dates-and-timesDates & Times

Alison Weir and Helen Castor join Rosemary Ashton FBA to explore the challenges of historical drama versus history and why uncertain times have seen a resurgence in the popularity of both.

Alison Weir is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous historical biographies, including Queens of the Conquest, The Lost Tudor Princess and The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and novels including Anne Boleyn, A King’s Obsession; Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen and Innocent Traitor.

Helen Castor is a historian of medieval England, and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her first book, Blood & Roses, a biography of the fifteenth-century Paston family, was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2005 and won the English Association's Beatrice White Prize in 2006. Her books, She-Wolves, and Joan of Arc were made into BBC TV series.

Rosemary Ashton OBE, FRSL, FBA is Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature and an Honorary Fellow of UCL. Her book One Hot Summer is released in July.

In association with the British Academy.

  • Duration: 1hr 30mins
  • Price: £15