Former PM Theresa May to appear at Gloucester History Festival

Former Prime Minister Theresa May will make her debut appearance at the Gloucester History Festival this year when she takes to the stage as part of the popular Blackfriars Talks.

Mrs May will discuss trust, injustice and the abuse of power by politicians and public institutions. The ex-PM will draw on her own experiences of domestic and international issues during her time at the Home Office and in Downing Street, including the Hillsborough and Grenfell Tower tragedies, Stop & Search and the Salisbury poisonings. The MP for Maidenhead since 1997 was Britain’s second female Prime Minister and the first woman to hold two of the Great Offices of State. Her new book, The Abuse of Power, is published in September.

Other Festival highlights this year include veteran BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen, former Foreign Secretary David Owen, A House Through Time presenter David Olusoga, Countdown lexicographer Susie Dent, broadcaster James Naughtie, Doctor Who & Casualty actor Paterson Joseph, and Tudor historian & TV presenter Tracy Borman. The Blackfriars Talks in Gloucester’s iconic medieval Blackfriars Priory are the centrepiece of the two week Festival which features 150 events in the heart of the city running from Saturday 2^nd to Sunday 17^th September 2023.

Tickets for the Festival go on general sale this Friday, 28^th July, with topics ranging from Gloucester’s forgotten friary and the real Dick Whittington to the story of the Spitfire and the TV blockbuster Call The Midwife. ‘I’m so thrilled that the Gloucester History Festival is back,’ says Festival President Dr Janina Ramirez. ‘Putting the programme together has been a joy and I can’t wait to hear some of Britain’s most brilliant people!’ Meanwhile, Festival curator Sarah Smyth says the aim is to offer variety and surprise. ‘There’s something for everybody, whether your passion is politics or Poldark, Romans or rugby, archaeology or the Anglo-Saxons.’

Tickets for the Gloucester History Festival go on sale at 10.00am on Friday 28th July 2023 and are available online from gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk, by phone on 07834 406228 and in person from the Festival Box Office at the Museum of Gloucester, Brunswick Road, Gloucester GL1 1HP.

Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk