5x15:Historians on Moments in History that Matter to Them

History is usually told through great events and famous names. But some of the most revealing moments lie in the stories that are overlooked, forgotten or pushed to the margins. Focusing on a single moment, character or decision, they will reveal a larger truth about power, belief and human behaviour.

William Dalrymple, Alice Loxton, Peter Frankopan, Gary Younge and Kate Williams will each take to the stage for 15 minutes  to bring one extraordinary episode from history vividly to life, from the invention of zero to the fate of Anne Boleyn, from the Eleanor Crosses to the American Revolution, and from the medieval world to the Liberation of Paris.

The 5x15 format is simple: five speakers, each with fifteen minutes to change the way we see the past.

William Dalrymple is one of Britain’s great historians and the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals. He is the co-host of chart-topping podcast Empire with Anita Anand and his latest book is The Golden Road. 

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University. His bookThe Silk Roads: A New History of the World became a global bestseller, topping charts in the UK, China and India, selling over 1.5 million copies and appearing in more than thirty languages. His most recent book, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History, reinterprets global history through climate and environmental change. 

Alice Loxton is a history broadcaster and Sunday Times bestselling author with over three million followers on social media (@history_alice), where she educates on British history, heritage and art. Her latest book is Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England’s Lost Queen. 

Gary Younge is an award-winning author, broadcaster and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. Formerly editor-at-large at The Guardian, he has written seven books, most recently Pigeonholed: Creative Freedom as an Act of Resistance (Faber, 2025). 

Professor Kate Williams is a historian and NYT bestselling author of eleven books. REGINA: A New History of Women and Power is her latest book. She is CNN's Historian and is Professor of History at the University of Reading. 

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