WE HAVE WAYS FEST 2025 | 12 – 14 SEPT 2025
The UK’s No. 1 Second World War Festival
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Al Murray is the co-host of We Have Ways Of Making You Talk. Al, with his alter-ego The Pub Landlord, is one of the most recognisable and successful comics in the UK. He is a regular on many popular British television programmes. Al is also a keen historian and aficionado of the Second World War.
James Holland is the co-host of the podcast We Have Ways Of Making You Talk. He is the best selling Second World War historian in the UK. He has published more than 20 books about the conflict and is the BBC’s regular expert on all Second World War matters. As well as hosting We Have Ways Fest, James runs Chalke History Festival – the largest history festival in Europe.
Dave Allen is a decorated soldier, military and civilian parachutist and senior NCO with over 22 years’ service in the Parachute Regiment. Since joining the Army at 19, he has participated in a multitude of exercises and operational tours which have taken him to all corners of the globe.
Having conducted extensive training and exercises as part of the British Army’s rapid reaction spearhead, 16 Air Assault Brigade, and with a wealth of operational experience domestically and overseas, in Northern Ireland, the Levant region as well as the wider Middle East, he spent two years of his career as an instructor at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, responsible for training, guiding, and developing training for the next generation of paratroopers. He is currently serving as a Platoon Sgt within the Parachute Regiment.
Michael Beddoes is a producer and writer, who among other things is currently working on the WW2 YouTube channel WW2 Headquarters (presented by James Holland & Al Murray). During his career he has worked across film, scripted TV documentaries, and commercials. This year, Michael is co-writing a non-fiction film book and is lecturing at Birmingham City University.
A former regular officer in the British Army, Sir Antony Beevor commanded a tank troop in Germany during the Cold War. His books include Stalingrad, Berlin, D-Day, The Battle for Spain and the Second World War. His work, which has received major prizes, has appeared in thirty-seven languages and sold more than nine million copies. His latest book is Russia – Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society, and a former chair of the Society of Authors, he has received honorary doctorates and fellowships from five universities. In 2014, he received the Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Literature, and in 2016 the Historical Association’s Norton Medlicott Medal for services to history. He was knighted in 2017.
Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS is an historian of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany at Northumbria University. He is the author of Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus and The Holocaust in Eastern Europe: At the Epicenter of the Final Solution. His most recent book is Between the Wires: The Janowska Camp and the Holocaust in Lviv. Waitman hosts the Holocaust History Podcast and is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Stuart Bertie is the official photographer of We Have Ways Fest. He is also a qualified architect, practising in East Devon. He was a lecturer in Architecture at the University of Portsmouth for a number of years, exploring urban design, landscape, building, culture, art, and philosophy. Pairing this experience with his keen interest in all things Second World War, he has recently been studying the wide reaching influence that Architects had on this world defining event, and how their legacy can be seen in the landscape today.
Mary Brazier is a Mental Health Social Worker and a Director of Social Work in the NHS. She has always had a passion for military history and recently completed a Masters in Second World War Studies. Her thesis explored the contribution of Psychology and Psychiatry to the formation of doctrine in RAF Bomber Command. Mary continues to present her work at academic conferences and festivals, and is keen to broaden wider understanding of mental health both within and after the Second World War.
John Buckley is Professor of Military History at the University of Wolverhampton, where he convenes the MA Second World War programme. His work focuses on the British Army in the Second World War (particularly Northwest Europe 1944-5), and air power. He is the author of a number of books including British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944 (2004), Monty’s Men: The British Army and the Liberation of Europe (2013), The Royal Air Force: The First One Hundred Years 2018 – with Paul Beaver) and Armchair General: Can You Defeat the Nazis? (2021).
Susan L. Carruthers is a professor of History at the University of Warwick, where she’s worked since 2017. Before arriving at Warwick, she taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and has held visiting fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and the University of Cologne. An expert on the history of twentieth-century conflict, she’s the author of six books, including, most recently, Dear John: Love and Loyalty in Wartime America (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and Making Do: Britons and the Refashioning of the Postwar World (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Her work has been featured in the Sunday Times, New York Times, Washington Post and ‘The Conversation’. In her spare time, Susan volunteers for English Heritage as a gardener at Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden.
Niall Cherry was born in London in 1959 and recalls becoming interested in military history as a schoolboy from watching such classic war films as ‘The Battle of Britain’ and ‘A Bridge Too Far’. He later found out that one of his grandfathers fought in the Great War, serving as a chemical corporal at Loos in 1915 and ended up as a Captain. His father served in the REME in the 1950’s and Niall continued in the family tradition by serving in the RAMC. During his time he qualified as a Combat Medical Technician Class 1 and an instructor in First Aid and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare and ended as a Senior NCO.
Deeply interested in the major conflicts of the 20th Century he has visited numerous battlefields including the Western Front, Arnhem, Gallipoli, Normandy, the Bulge, the Falkland Islands and North Africa. He is a longstanding member of the Western Front Association, the Military Heraldry Society and 23/144 Parachute Field Ambulance Old Comrades Association. He also has the honour of being the only non Arnhem veteran to be Secretary of the Arnhem 1944 Veterans’ Club and was Secretary of the Arnhem 1944 Fellowship for over 10 years. He has now authored or co-authored 19 books and is one of the team of battlefield guides at Leger Holidays.
Alex Churchill is a military historian from London. The co-founder of the Great War Group and the lockdown podcast History Hack, she now writes on both wars for substack. Her particular interests are the war in the Pacific and anything French-related.
John Concagh is a historian from London whose work focuses on the relationship between Britain’s African and Caribbean colonies and the challenges of the Second World War.
Phil Craig is a bestselling author and multiple-award-winning film-maker. A former RAF cadet pilot, he studied history at Cambridge University, was a BBC graduate trainee and built his career working for iconic British TV series World in Action and Panorama. Later he held senior positions at the prestigious Brook Lapping production company, at the Discovery Channel and at ABC Television in Australia where he ran the entire factual output including its high-profile ANZAC centenary project.
Throughout his TV and writing career, Phil has spent many years researching and reinterpreting the story of Britain and its Empire during the Second World War, including his definitive and bestselling account of 1940 – ‘Finest Hour’, a book cited by James Holland as a major influence on his own work.
Phil also hosts The Scandal Mongers Podcast.
Calum E. Douglas is a professional mechanical engineer, specialising in race engine design, and an aviation historian. His first book, about WW2 aero engine development from 1930 to 1945, “THE SECRET HORSEPOWER RACE” has sold in five figure volumes, in three languages and is now widely regarded as the standard text on the subject. He is regularly invited to lecture all over the world on the topic of WW2 aero engines, from Rolls-Royce to the Royal Aeronautical Society to various motorsport firms such as Ferrari F1 together with the chassis, and engine manufacturing sites of both Mercedes F1 and Renault-Sport (now Alpine). His current research topics focus on the reasons for success and failure in British aeronautical development from 1914 to 1945, with emphasis on global raw materials supply, government research policy and the relationship between major research institutes and industry. Calum is currently on a long term retainer with a large historic aviation company in an engineering capacity, and is a registered (and active) external consultant with the UK Government AAIB (Air Accidents Investigation Branch) for historic aircraft engine failure incidents. He is still glad he spent the first five years of his engineering career as a welder.
Dr Dan Ellin is Digital Archivist for the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. A Social and Cultural historian, Dan is a graduate of the University of Lincoln and has a PhD from the University of Warwick. His research examines the lives of the men and women who served with Bomber Command during the Second World War. Dan has worked for the IBCC since 2015. Since then, the IBCC Digital Archive has recorded over 1,200 oral history interviews and digitised over 2,500 individual collections of letters, diaries, logbooks and photographs. Many of these collections tell stories previously unheard by anyone other than their families.
Chris Gatenby is a Master Mariner, sailor and RNLI Lifeboat helm, who has spent the best part of 35 years at sea in the Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. He is currently serving as a senior Liverpool Pilot. His interest on the Battle of the Atlantic was piqued when he worked on the Battle of the Atlantic 60th Anniversary Commemoration, when he was lucky enough to meet many of the veterans. With a deep love of history and all things nautical, Chris will explain the Atlantic Convoys through the eyes of a Mariner.
A born and bred Suffolk girl, Sophie Green grew up in the small rural town of Framlingham and has been interested in the Second World War since childhood. She is now Curator at the 95th Bomb Group Museum at Horham and runs her own project to tell the story of the American women that served in England during the Second World War. She is also a British Representative of the 8th Air Force Historical Society. Sophie has participated in living history events across Europe, is a historical consultant for both TV and film, provides talks to groups and social media platforms, and regularly exhibits her personal collection of original uniforms and ephemera to tell the story of the American women that served here.
George Hoad is a 17-year-old member of the independent company and avid fan of history. He started listening to the podcast in 2021. This is his fourth time at the festival as a fan and his second time as a speaker. In his spare time, he is a member of the C.C.F (Combined Cadet Force). As of September 2024, he has begun research and production of his first ever book on Operation Musketeer, the military aspect of the Suez Crisis.
Kit Kowol received his DPhil in Politics from Oxford University in 2014. He subsequently taught and researched at Teesside University, Christ Church (University of Oxford), and King’s College London, where he was an Early Career Development Fellow in Modern British History. He now lives and works in Brisbane, Australia.
Nick Le Huray lives in the Channel Island of Guernsey and is passionate about the history of the islands. He has a particular interest in the German Occupation of the Channel Islands between 1940 and 1945. He has been collecting material related to the occupation for many years as well as writing a blog, www.Island-Fortress.com. He co-hosts the ‘Islands at War’ podcast, and has a monthly spot on BBC Radio Guernsey and BBC Radio Jersey. He also leads tours around Guernsey and has recently become a Bronze Accredited tour guide. Nick has been working with Visit Guernsey and other history bodies to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the liberation. His forthcoming book, which will be published in 2025, explores the escapes made by civilians from the islands.
Dr Robert Lyman is an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Research Fellow at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. He received an MBE for services to military history in the King’s New Years Honours 2024. Robert was commissioned into the Light Infantry in April 1982 and spent 20 years in the British Army. His PhD on Field Marshal Bill Slim became his first book, Slim, Master of War, in 2004. His account of the Burma campaign, A War of Empires, was published to critical acclaim in November 2021. He co-wrote Victory to Defeat with Lord Dannatt in 2023 and recently collaborated with Lord Dannatt again on a new military history of the Korean War, Korea: War Without End.
James May is a journalist, author, television presenter and publican, perhaps best known for shows such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour. An aficionado of Second World War history and war planes in particular, James has appeared on the podcast and at We Have Ways Fest. His latest book, Marvellous Vehicles, was published in 2023.
Alex Maws is the Head of Education and Heritage at the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and a member of the UK delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). He works in partnership with UNESCO to train educators and policy makers globally on issues relating to the Holocaust and antisemitism. He is the producer and host of the AJR’s ‘Kindertransport’ podcast and the creator of the online UK Holocaust Map.
Joey McCarthy is the Senior Producer of We Have Ways of Making You Talk and the Production Manager of We Have Ways Fest. He has worked on the podcast since its inception since 2019 and has produced approximately 800 episodes of pure unadulterated war-waffle. Unlike all of the other speakers and historians at this festival, Joey knows nothing about the Second World War.
John McManus is Curators’ Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and co-host of We Have Ways USA. As one of the nation’s leading military historians, John has published several books and regularly appears on television and radio. His current projects include a major three volume history of the US Army in the Pacific/Asia theatre during the Second World War.
Roger Moorhouse is a historian and author specialising in Nazi Germany, Poland and World War Two in Europe. He is author of a number of books, including “Killing Hitler” (2006), “Berlin at War” (2010), “The Devils’ Alliance” (2014), “The Forgers” (2023), and the critically acclaimed “First to Fight” (2019), which was awarded the Polish Foreign Ministry History Prize in 2020. His new book: “Wolfpack” provides a German perspective on the submarine conflict in World War Two. Roger’s books have appeared in more than 20 languages and he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic in 2020, for services to Polish history.
Clare Mulley is an award-winning author focused on female experience during the Second World War. Her books include Agent Zo about the only woman to parachute from Britain to occupied-Poland during the Second World War, to play a key role in the largest organised act of defiance against Nazi Germany, The Women Who Flew For Hitler, The Spy Who Loved and The Woman Who Saved The Children. Popular on TV, radio and pods, Clare reviews widely, and has judged several book prizes. She is a recipient of the Polish honour, the Bene Merito, and the Daily Mail Biographers Club Prize. She lives in Essex with the sculptor Ian Wolter, too many books, and a dog who needs more baths.
Louise Parberry grew up hearing stories about London during the war, such as when her grandfather was out firefighting elsewhere, her grandmother had to put out a fire bomb with the landlady’s precious bear skin rug. She was raised in Arizona, studied mathematics in California and the UK and briefly worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Louise has spent the last 27 years working for the same software company. For the last 10 years she has been involved in the area of AI ethics and the future of work. Much of the background research to support this work leads directly back to the Manhattan Project. Louise is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
Former Soldier Mike Peters is a Military Historian and Battlefield Guide. Mike has published several books on WW2 Airborne Operations, the US Eighth Air force and the British Army Air Corps. When not leading battlefield tours Mike is at home in Suffolk writing and co-hosting the Mighty Eighth Podcast.
Steve Prince is a great friend of the podcast and the Head of the Naval Historical Branch in the Ministry of Defence and Deputy Head of the Naval Staff. He has also served in staff roles at sea and in Afghanistan and has previously been a Sir Robert Menzies Scholar at the Australian War Memorial, a lecturer at the Britannia Royal Naval College and a senior lecturer at the Joint Services Command and Staff College. Steve is also an alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies.
A Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller, James M. Scott is the author of Black Snow, Rampage, Target Tokyo, The War Below, and The Attack on the Liberty, and co-author, with Jack Carr, of Targeted: Beirut. In addition, James, a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, is a sought-after public speaker, who leads battlefield tours and lectures at institutions around the world. He lives with his wife and two children in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is the Scholar in Residence at The Citadel.
Henry Spilberg has a lifelong interest in military history, sparked by museum visits and trips to the battlefields of the Western Front as a child. He is a trustee of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock and a founder member and trustee of the Great War Group (GWG). He is the educational course lead for GWG and organises the monthly online talks for the Group on a wide range of topics. Henry’s own interests include researching the service of family members (both grandfathers served in the Second World War, one in the RAF, the other in the RN; one great-grandfather was an Italian general); naval warfare; and all aspects of military medicine. He has contributed several articles to the GWG journal, Salient Points. He joined the ranks of the WHW afflicted in 2021 (IC #1996) and is delighted to have this opportunity to speak at the Festival about a topic close to his heart.
Sonia Purnell is a prize-winning bestselling author, broadcaster and journalist. She has sold over a million books worldwide and her works have been translated into nearly thirty languages. Her last three books have recounted the astonishing lives of formidable and stylish women who triumphed against the odds to shape the world today in ways never previously revealed or understood – First Lady about Clementine Churchill, A Woman of No importance about the one-legged WWII spy Virginia Hall, and Kingmaker about Pamela Harriman. Sonia’s latest book Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Seduction, Power & Intrigue came out in September 2024 to huge critical and reader acclaim.
Sonia has appeared on countless TV shows, radio programmes and podcasts across the world including Morning Joe on MSNBC, Good Morning Britain on ITV, Today on BBC Radio 4, NPR in the US as well as other countries such as Australia, France and Brazil. She has contributed to many documentaries including, most recently, the Netflix docuseries Churchill at War and History’s Secret Heroes on Radio 4.
Dr Victoria Taylor is an award-winning aviation historian, broadcaster, and writer who specialises in the history of the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force. She has served as an on-screen expert, historical consultant, narrator and assistant producer across historical programming for the BBC, Channels 4 and 5, Sky History, National Geographic, BFBS, the RAF Benevolent Fund, History Hit, the Smithsonian Channel, and beyond. Victoria sits on the Advisory Board for the cross-party Spitfire AA810 restoration project in the House of Lords and is an Assistant Editor for the Royal Aeronautical Society’s ‘Journal of Aeronautical History’. She is an Ambassador for both the National Spitfire Project and the RAF Charitable Trust. Her debut book, ‘Eagle Days: Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain’, was recently published by Head of Zeus in May 2025.
Professor John Tregoning is the author of Live Forever? The Curious Scientist’s Guide to Wellness, Disease and Ageing (Oneworld); in which he explores ageing and what we can do about it. He previously published Infectious: Pathogens and how we fight them (Oneworld) which describes the history and science of infectious disease. John is currently Professor of Vaccine Immunology at Imperial College London, where he has studied the immune responses to vaccination and respiratory infection for more than 25 years. John has written 85 scientific articles and numerous articles on scientific careers including a weekly COVID diary in Nature. He has appeared on the Royal Institution Christmas lectures and BBC Radio 4. Many moons ago, John was a captain in the Territorial Army as OC Machine Guns.
Ben Willbond is an award-winning actor and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his role as The Captain in BBC1’s Bafta-nominated comedy Ghosts. He has also appeared widely on television and in film, and has co-written two feature films, Bill (2015) and We Are Not Alone (2022). Ben is a keen historian with a particular fascination in everything Second World War.
Tim Willbond is a retired Group Captain and served in the RAF for 31 years as an Aerospace Battle Manager. His operational command appointments included Master Controller Falkland Islands, OC CRC Neatsishead, Deputy Commander Sector South and Deputy Commander SOC UK. He also commanded RAF Boulmer. He is a subject matter expert on Air Defence Command and Control, the Dowding System and tactical air battle management. He writes articles and gives talks across a broad spectrum of related topics and is currently writing a book on the genesis of ADC2 and air battle management and its application during the Second World War.
Steve is the Regimental Researcher at the Green Howards Museum and a battlefield guide. With an MA in British First World War Studies from Birmingham University, Simon’s research credits include titles such as John Powell’s 2018 study of General Sir Edward Bulfin, Hugh Sebag-Montefiori’s 2016 look at fighting on the Somme and Terry Finnegan’s 2015 assessment of the American battlefield experience during the First World War.
GREEN HOWARDS ON SICILY – SATURDAY THE ARSENAL
Also known as Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment, the Green Howards made their mark on Sicily in 1943. Steve Erskine has worked with the Green Howards Regimental Museum for several years, and now takes us out to Sicily….
