JAMES DICKINSON HISTORY TALKS

I am James Dickinson an amateur historian living in Herstmonceux in Sussex. I give talks on medieval history, fully illustrated with photographs and other pictures.

This is now my eighth year of giving talks on English medieval history. It has given me great pleasure to speak to well over 150 groups on a range of subjects over the whole breadth of English medieval history. I hope by now  people realise that medieval history is inherently interesting and not boring. The extraordinary and the bizarre are always just round the corner.


History also informs our cultural background and sometimes explains why things are as they are today. Often historical stories are simply just good ones in themselves. 

In addition to my existing talks I have two new talks  available from October 2023. The first is on the Bayeux Tapestry and tells the fascinating story of the embroidery depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The second is on Geoffrey Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is often seen as the father of the modern English language. The Canterbury Tales tells the story of a group of pilgrims from London travelling to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket and telling stories to pass the time. The Canterbury Tales is now regarded as a masterpiece of medieval literature. The talk will be fully illustrated with characters from the Tales and their stories. 

I am happy to travel to all areas of Sussex and most of Kent. My basic fee is now £65.00. This will cover purely very local talks near my home in East Sussex and also on-line talks by zoom. Where other than nominal travelling time is involved, my fee will be £80.00. Where substantial travelling time is involved I will try to agree all-inclusive fees not to exceed £100.00 except for the most distant of locations.