Talks
Talks on arms, armour and the people who used them
History is easier to believe when you can see how it worked. My talks combine published research with nearly 30 years of practical training, so audiences understand not just what people fought with, but how and why.
Every talk can include a handling table of replica arms and armour, so your audience can feel the weight of the past rather than just hear about it.
Talks available to book
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How to Become a Knight
More about this talk →: How to Become a KnightThe training, the fight books and the weapons behind knighthood: what a young squire had to learn and how long it took. Finishes with supervised hands-on handling and Q&A. Ideal for schools, families and general audiences.
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Steel and Skill: Medieval Arms and Armour
More about this talk →: Steel and Skill: Medieval Arms and ArmourSwords, spears, polearms, the warbow and the armour built to defeat them. How weapons and armour drove each other forward, and what the surviving objects and fight books tell us about their use.
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Swords of the Second World War
More about this talk →: Swords of the Second World WarThe sword didn’t vanish with the machine gun. The Japanese gunto, the Chinese dadao and the klewang all saw use in the Second World War. This talk looks at who carried them, how they were used and why they lasted so long.
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Khopesh and Chariot: Combat in Ancient Egypt
More about this talk →: Khopesh and Chariot: Combat in Ancient EgyptFrom the sickle-sword and the battle axe to the composite bow and the chariot, this talk explores how ancient Egyptians fought. It draws on tomb paintings, surviving weapons and battle accounts such as Kadesh, and looks at the wrestling and stick fighting shown on tomb walls at Beni Hasan, a tradition that still survives in Egyptian tahtib today.
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The Roman Spear
More about this talk →: The Roman SpearHow Rome’s soldiers used the spear, and what the written sources, archaeology and practical reconstruction tell us about its place on the battlefield.
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History Beneath Your Feet: Arms and Armour for Detectorists
More about this talk →: History Beneath Your Feet: Arms and Armour for DetectoristsBuckles, arrowheads, chape fragments and sword furniture: how to recognise military finds, date them and understand the people who dropped them. Built for metal detecting clubs and archaeology societies.
Formats and practicalities
- Talks run from 30 mins to 2 hours, with time for questions.
- A handling table of replica arms and armour can be added to most talks.
- Any talk can be tailored to your site, collection or theme.
- Based in Canterbury, covering Kent, London and the South East, and further afield by arrangement.
- Fully insured, with risk assessments supplied for handling sessions.
Where I’ve spoken
English Heritage sites, the University of Kent’s MEMsFest, Universities, Schools, and local history, archaeology and metal detecting groups across Kent.
What hosts say
“…he delighted the audience by engaging their interest in combat during this period with his knowledgeable and personable manner whilst helping to dispel misconceptions through his own combat research and practice.”
Tim Benfield – English Heritage
Hosting a talk?
I’ll send you everything you need to promote it: a ready-to-publish event description, a short speaker bio, a photo and a poster. That makes your event page quick to build and easy for people to find.