History

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Dan Snow on the Seven Year s? War . Af ter thei r tal ks, m ost of the speaker s headed st r ai gh t to the Water stones ten t by the en t r an ce, wher e they si gned cop i es of thei r books f or m em ber s of the aud i en ce. By f ar the best tal k , however , was by Si r An thony Sel don on ?T he Im possi b l e O f f i ce? T he H i stor y of the Br i t i sh Pr im e M i n i ster .? Fr om the m om en t he was i n t r oduced as the si x t y - seven - year - o l d m an who, the day bef or e, had wal ked the f or t y - f i ve m i l es f r om W i n chester to Sal i sbu r y? al l because he had m i ssed h i s bus? at tendees and vo l un teer s al i ke f ound them sel ves en r ap tu r ed by th i s sp r i gh t l y, n im b l e, hobb i t - l i ke f i gu r e, who, to boot , seem ed to know ever y th i ng ther e i s to know abou t the h i stor y of the Br i t i sh p r im e m i n i ster . Al as, not ever y speaker was ab l e to m at ch Sel don?s ener gy and dy nam i sm ; yet the l ess i n ter est i ng tal ks? say, ?Pevsner ?s W i l t sh i r e Rev i sed? by Ju l i an O r bach , or ?T he Bound l ess

Sea: A H um an H i stor y of the O cean s? by Dav i d Abu l af i a? p r ov i ded wel com e oppor tun i t i es f or cat ch i ng up on som e m uch - needed sl eep . af ter f ou r - and - a- hal f days, the f est i val was over . H av i ng been b l essed w i th gl or i ous weather f or the f i r st f ew days, on the l ast af ter noon , the heaven s opened . T he bar qu i ck l y em p t i ed ou t as pun ter s r aced to get hom e; what had on ce been a h i ve of act i v i t y gr ound to an i gnom i n i ous hal t . T he f est i val wou l d not end of f i ci al l y f or another f ou r hou r s, yet th i s was the m om en t when , m etaphor i cal l y speak i ng, the sou l depar ted the body. I t was al so the m om en t when I , too, cl ocked of f . Eager to get back to St . Al ban s i n t im e to wat ch Bel gi um f ace of f agai n st Por tugal , I asked m y super v i sor i f I cou l d l eave ear l y ; al as, m y r equest was gr an ted . For af ter a f ai r l y du l l m at ch ended i n a nar r ow Bel gi an v i ctor y, I f ound m ysel f r ef l ect i ng on the f est i val , And just l i ke that ,

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