1 July 2019
Abingdon lower sixth historians had the chance to attend the Chalke Valley History Festival in which an amalgamation of different lectures are held throughout the day, spanning across thousands of years of history, from Pompeii to more contemporary history such as wartime Syria.
The most noteworthy lectures that I attended included ‘the crusades: the life loss and legend of sultan Saladin’, in which Professor Jonathan Phillips discussed the characteristics of Saladin and how it contributed to his many successes as well as the lecture by Max Hastings who spoke enthrallingly about both his experiences in Vietnam as a journalist in the period from 1945-1975 and the legacy that has been left by the war.
The day ultimately provided an excellent tool to look at different historical events in a different way and in gaining a new perspective of periods of history that we were unfamiliar with. Thank you to Mr Jackson and Mr Chase for organising the trip.
Written by Gian Verdding L6
