Historian and broadcaster Dan Jones ahead of his appearance at the Guildford Book Festival
Dan Jones has plenty of strings to his longbow. As a historian specialising in the Middle Ages– his published works cover everything from the rise and fall of the Templars to the making of the Magna Carta – he brilliantly combines the roles of writer, broadcaster and podcast host, bringing new life to the things of long ago.
And something else: he is also a big fan of the book festival. It is, he says, a fertile art form of its own.
“It’s a very important part of how we can communicate history,” he insists. “Platforms such as the Guildford Book Festival enable me to do precisely that.
I put a lot of effort into the stagecraft. It’s a performance.
"I spent a long time working on how to stage a one-man show.”
This year, Dan will take centre stage at the festival’s Electric Theatrevenue to talk about Wolves of Winter, the second novel in his Essex Dogs trilogy set in the Hundred Years’ War. It charts the continuing trials of ordinary soldiers as they navigate the bloody battlefields of 14th-century France.
And while the 42-year-old Berkshire-born author may not have strayed far from his preferred historical period, he has found writing fiction very different from his accustomed endeavours. “Novels do present big challenges,” he admits. “You must think more about story structure, creating believable characters and constructing a compelling world. It even feels physically different when the task is so much more imaginative and creative."
“This particular period is complex, but so is every period. History is the study of human beings and human societies, and we are a complex species. But I think that in complexity, you have great richness. So when you are writing fiction, complexity is your friend because it provokes human beings to respond in interesting ways. Conflict in all its forms is what makes historical fiction such a popular genre.”
It was in 2010 that Dan first came to prominence with his book Summer of Blood: The Revolt of 1381. Two years later came The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England, which found acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, becoming a New York Times bestseller in 2013. That was also the book that propelled its author into the world of broadcasting after it was made a four-part series on Channel 5.
“I enjoy communicating and telling stories about, and I feel very lucky to live in an age when there are so many media through to do it.
It is a wonderful time to be doing what I am doing.
"The challenge, I suppose, is deciding which medium suits which particular story. Television is very different from fiction writing, which is different again from the podcast. I am so fortunate that I get to explore them all.”
Transparently passionate about the subject, Dan admits to being “a little depressed” when he encounters people who confess to having found school history boring. “History, by definition, is the total of all human events and achievements,” he points out. “If you can make that boring, you must be doing a very poor job indeed.”
Fortunately, Dan himself was taught by one of the best: the inimitable David Starkey CBE, his supervisor at Cambridge University. Dan has described him as his “fairy godfather”, and his influence has permeated every facet of the younger man’s career.
“I first saw him when I was a child, around 14 or 15 when I was taken to a day of lectures by eminent historians, and David was the headline act. He was mesmerising – no notes, just talking extemporarily for an hour on stage. Taught me at Cambridge and is now a good pal of mine.“
"It was David who first showed me the extent to which performance is part of the job. You must be able to speak about your subject, to communicate what you have learned.” Hence, this month finds Dan at Guildford doing just that.
Meanwhile, he is also in the final stages of completing a non-fiction tome on Henry V for publication during autumn 2024 and working on the last book of his trilogy. Series three of his This Is History podcast goes live this month. And as if all that were not enough, his new TV show, Sex: A Bonkers History, is currently airing on Sky History. For that, Dan has teamed up with presenter Amanda Holden to explore how sexual behaviour through the ages has shaped civilisations.
“Yes, she is my new history sidekick,” he laughs. “I am only the assistant this time. It’s been great, though – the raucous, fun show I have ever worked on. Amanda is an absolute dream. A busy few months, to be sure, but I’m loving every part of it.”
For what more could one ask?
