WITH each day and each latest horrifying news item, the war in the Middle East becomes more worrying and spreads ever further. It is, for those who take the “long view” as Jonathan Freedland calls it in his BBC Radio 4 programmes, a war that was always on the cards, in a region that has always been a tinderbox. But how did we get here, and what can we learn from the past? These are questions that are sure to be explored with some of the distinguished speakers at this year’s Chalke History Festival, at Broad Chalke from 22nd to 28th June.

Newly announced speakers at the country’s greatest celebration of history in every form – from books to podcasts, re-enactments to Shakespeare plays – are Britain’s favourite cook and baker Dame Mary Berry, and the popular gardener, broadcaster and author Alan Titchmarsh, who will talk about gardens for the National Garden Scheme.

Dame Harriet Walter, the award-winning actress and star of iconic dramas including Killing Eve, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, and Downton Abbey, will be making her debut at Chalke when she talks about visibility and representation of older women in the arts.

Emily Hauser will tell the astonishing true story of the real women behind ancient Greece’s greatest legends; Paul Beaver and Nigel West will swap stories about the secret world of undercover assassins; Amy Jeffs is back to talk about traditional ballads; Thomas Asbridge assesses the global impact of the Black Death and Hallie Rubenhold introduces her page-turning, feminist retelling of the historical true-crime story of infamous wife-murderer Dr Crippen.

Following the success of the Henry V performances last year, the On Cue Theatre Company brings Shakespeare back to Chalke with The Tragedie of Macbeth, taking audiences back to the Elizabethan period to see how Shakespeare and the players originally performed with minimal rehearsal, no director, working from cue scripts.

Pictured: Alan Titchmarsh, photograph by Martin Cook; a nighttime view across the festival site, photograph by Ash Mills