History

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un t i l 20 21 f or m y chan ce to vo l un teer . I was, i n f act , l ucky to m ake the cu t th i s year . W i th a l aby r i n th i ne set of heal th and saf et y r egu l at i on s to en f or ce, even w i th the f est i val si te capped at hal f i t s usual capaci t y of 8,0 0 0 , the or gan i ser s gave p r i or i t y to thei r m ost exper i en ced vo l un teer s, m any of whom have been i nvo l ved w i th the even t si n ce i t s i n cep t i on i n 20 11. T her e was, then , ver y l i t t l e space l ef t over f or the i n com peten t , i nexper t ei gh teen - year - o l ds who I ?m to l d m ake up a si gn i f i can t par t of the vo l un teer i n take i n m or e norm al year s. T he deci si on was v i nd i cated , however , w i th the f est i val supposed l y r unn i ng m or e sm ooth l y than i n year s past . Not that the job of a vo l un teer i s par t i cu l ar l y d i f f i cu l t . T he p r im ar y task i s to po l i ce the two b i g ten t s r eser ved f or even t s by guest speaker s, who tend to d i scuss thei r new l y - r el eased books bef or e

tak i ng the aud i en ce. I m ysel f was wor k i ng i n the sm al l er of these two ten t s, m y cor e tasks bei ng co l l ect i ng t i cket s, ask i ng doub l e- vacci nated at tendees to pu t thei r m asks on , and then shepher d i ng peop l e ou t af ter the end of each hou r - l ong even t . D u r i ng the tal ks them sel ves, vo l un teer s can ei ther stay and l i sten to the speaker or go of f and en joy the r est of the f est i val . M ost of the t im e, however , I chose to stay and l i sten . T he best speaker s i n cl uded M ar gar et M acM i l l an on ?War : H ow Con f l i ct Shaped Us?; f orm er tel ev i si on p r esen ter L oyd Gr ossm an on ?An El ephan t i n Rom e: Ber n i n i , the Pope and the M ak i ng of the Eter nal Ci t y ?; Jonathan Fennel l on ?Fi gh t i ng the Peop l e?s War ,?a f asci nat i ng l ook at the im por tan ce of m or al e du r i ng the Second Wor l d War ; Jonathan Sum p t i on on ?L aw i n a T im e of Cr i si s,? a cl ar i on cal l to take back ou r l i ber t i es f r om one of l ockdown?s f i er cest cr i t i cs; and quest i on s f r om

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