A lecture at King Edward’s School on Tuesday evening left audience members gripped by historian Christopher Lloyd’s epic ride through an 800 year fight for freedom and liberties.
In a highly interactive lecture involving members of the audience, Christopher’s roller-coaster journey stopped off at 10 key moments in the last 800 years, showing how today’s ideas of freedom and liberty have emerged through time.
Participants were asked to imagine themselves as King John or a Suffragette and to consider the impact of the Reformation and abolition of slavery as well as the influence of individuals such as Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai.
Christopher Lloyd is the author of The Magna Carta Chronicle: A Young Person’s Guide to 800 Years in the Fight for Freedom, the official young person’s guide to this year’s 800th anniversary commemorations.
Every Primary School in Britain is to receive a copy of the book along with a timeline wallchart and newspaper chronicle.
Sir Robert Worcester, Chairman of the Magna Carta 800th Committee, believes this year marks the best opportunity in a century to present young people with an epic narrative that continues to shape the world.
“The fight for freedom and rights and the rule of law is a global story, but one that should be extra special to everyone living in the UK since its origins and dramas – from the freedom to choose our rulers and religion to equality of opportunity and the right to live without fear of unlawful imprisonment – are so inextricably linked to the history of Britain itself,” he said.
Speaking at last night’s Wroughton Lecture world history author and educationalist, Christopher Lloyd used a supersized version of his book’s illustrated timeline to make the 800-year story accessible and exciting to an audience ranging from 8 years and up and included members of the public alongside KES pupils and their families.
The two metre long fold-out timeline charts nearly 100 moments from the laws of Hammurabi to the terrible experience of Malala Yousafzai after her attempted assassination by terrorists simply for daring to go to school.
“Her story reminds us that the freedom and rights we enjoy today will still have to be fought for by future generations.
“We cannot just leave them to the legacy of people in the past. That’s why making these stories accessible to younger people today matters so much,” said Lloyd.
