Guildford Cathedral will be hosting historian David Starkey on April 22, for a talk ahead of the Magna Carta's 800th anniversary
Almost 800 years ago, on June 15 1215, at a hill near Windsor, a group of barons strong-armed King John of England into signing a document that has formed the basis of almost every one of our modern civil liberties.
This was the Magna Carta.
Perhaps it was intended to do no more than shift power from the king to his nobles - but the ideas it made law ranged from tax regulation to the right to a fair trial - they had powerful implications, and are still argued over today.
There are few people in Britain better-qualified to explain the intricacies and significance of this sheepskin document than David Starkey, constitutional historian and notoriously acerbic TV personality.
On April 22 he'll be at Guildford Cathedral, holding forth on the violent origin of those rights we today consider inalienable. Later in the year from June 8 to August 8, the Cathedral will be hosting a facsimile of the Magna Carta, on loan from Salisbury Cathedral.
If you've the slightest interest in history, this talk - from the presenter of the BBC documentary David Starkey's Magna Carta and writer of a new book simply titled Magna Carta - will be a real treat. It will be followed by a Q&A session and signing.
You can see a clip from David Starkey's Magna Carta on the BBC iPlayer
Those who wish to attend will need to book on the Cathedral Box Office
