Stage Two

These are from mid-summer

Spent part of the day at Lichfield Literary Festival.

Barry Cunliffe is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford. Author of many bestselling books, he received a knighthood in 2006. Using modern archaeological evidence, Britain Begins tells our island story from the arrival of colonising hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe 12,000 years ago, through to the eve of the Norman Conquest, overturning long-held assumptions about the origin of the Celts, the impact of the Roman occupation, and the extent of the ebb and flow between the populations of Britain and the continent. Also exploring the origins of myth-enhanced histories such as those of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Barry Cunliffe reflects on the idea that today's archaeologists and the historians of old engage in the same activity: telling the story that best fits the current evidence.

Lucinda Dickens Hawksley is an author, art historian and public speaker. She is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens and Patron of the Charles Dickens Museum, London. Charles Dickens is the definitive illustrated guide to the man and his works. It follows Dickens from early childhood, and looks at how he became the greatest celebrity of his age. Featuring rare images from the archives of the Charles Dickens Museum the book explores how key personalities in Dickens' life became imitated in his writings. It also explores his work as a journalist, his campaigning for social reform and exemplifies the enormous changes he helped to bring about both in his local society and in the world at large.