From Blackadder to Blackfriars - The Gloucester History Festival Returns this September!

Blackadder star and Time Team presenter, Tony Robinson, leads an exciting cast of top speakers announced today for the Gloucester History Festival in September. Sir Tony played turnip-brained Baldrick in all four series of Rowan Atkinson’s TV comedy. He will be on stage at Blackfriars Priory in the heart of historic Gloucester to share his passion for Anglo-Saxon England and explore medieval Wessex.

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In total 100 events will be taking place at Blackfriars from Friday 11th to Sunday 20th September. Festival highlights include Men Behaving Badly star Caroline Quentin, A House Through Time presenter David Olusoga, former Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt, Wild Swans author Jung Chang, BBC Coast favourite Nicholas Crane and acclaimed TV historians Michael Wood, Dan Jones, Ben Robinson and Nandini Das.

Tickets for the History Festival go on general sale on Friday 24th July, with one topic certain to sell-out fast. The Bayeux Tapestry features in three events including a debate with the people responsible for masterminding the relic’s top-secret journey to the UK. Meanwhile Radiohead meets Portishead when rock stars Philip Selway and Adrian Utley discuss the ‘90s music revolution and join forces for a unique, unmissable live set ‘guaranteed to shake the rafters.’

The Festival goes ahead at Blackfriars despite the iconic 13th century venue closing to the public in May. ‘We love the unique atmosphere of this medieval landmark, so I’m delighted that thanks to the co-operation of English Heritage we’re able to entertain, inform and inspire history-lovers here in September,’ says the Chair of the Gloucester History Trust, Andrew Pitt.

‘I’m looking forward to taking audiences on some extraordinary journeys into the distant past, as well as tackling the challenges of the present,’ says Festival President, Prof. Janina Ramirez.

Tickets for all Blackfriars Talks go on general sale at 10.00am on Friday 24th July 2026 and are available online from gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk, by phone on 07847 138531 and in person from the Festival Box Office at the Museum of Gloucester, Brunswick Road, GL1 1HP.