Sussex historian Chris Hare offers wide range of spring and summer talks and walks

SussexWorld

Sussex historian Chris Hare is embarking on a remarkable spring and summer of talks over the next few months including a major contribution to the 2025 Festival of Chichester, plus Worthing Festival and Arundel Festival appearances.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. It's always

00:06lovely to speak to Chris here, especially today, Chris, you've come up with a magnificent

00:11list of talks on all sorts of aspects of Sussex history that you're going to be giving all

00:16over the place over the next few months. It's an amazing list. That breadth, how on earth

00:22do you cover so much?

00:25I think they're just all things that fascinate me, and I hope they'll fascinate other people

00:30as well. I've had an interest in history for such a long time, and there are certain things

00:39that really take my fancy, and I just like to research them and find out more and more.

00:44And having found out, I like to share that information.

00:47Yeah, so it's not just the research, it's the handing it over, isn't it?

00:52It's the handing it over. It's like a good story. If you hear a good story, you want

00:56to tell people, don't you? And also, I like to see people's reaction and people's thoughts.

01:06So I'm doing that talk on the Siege of Chichester in the Civil War, and of course, all the profound

01:12religious and political issues at that time. And we live in a turbulent time, and is there

01:18a correlation? Do people see a reflection of the present in the past?

01:23So it's about understanding our moment now through what's happened in the past, then?

01:28Yeah, we can learn from the past. I don't think people ever do. But you could if you

01:35wanted to. Because although history doesn't repeat itself exactly, themes re-emerge, and

01:44personality types re-emerge.

01:46Absolutely. And just to mention a few of the talks that you're giving, Witchcraft and Cunning

01:50Folk in West Sussex History, Siege and Plunder of the Civil War, Worthing 1825, Historic

01:57Chichester, the West Sussex Fascists of the 1930s, Worthing 1925, Witchcraft and Cunning

02:04Again, Helaire Belloq, a particular favourite of yours. It's an incredible list, isn't it?

02:11And obviously, Sussex is the theme that connects it all. Is there still a great sense of

02:17Sussex identity, do you think, today?

02:20Yes. I mean, it can't be as strong as it was in the past, because people move around so

02:25much. And I think there's also an argument you can make that poorer people often have

02:31a stronger sense of cultural identity than more affluent people.

02:37Why would that be?

02:40Because if you're poor and you can't really move from where you are, you're not going

02:48to acquire lots of goods and possessions. You're not going to go, if we go back in history,

02:52you're not going to go on the Grand Tour. So you work and you work in a predictable

03:00way. But you have events in the year like May Day, Bonfire Night, Country Fairs. That

03:09is your pleasure. And in that...

03:13Those define the year, don't they?

03:15Folk songs. And you get... Yeah, yeah, define the year. And folklore and dialect. And dialect,

03:21of course, is a sub-language. If we went back in time 200 years, I think we'd find it very

03:27hard to understand people in Sussex country areas, because sure, they'd be speaking English,

03:31but they'd be speaking it in a strong accent, but they'd be using words that we don't use

03:38anymore. And that's... Basically, that's gone.

03:43Fascinating stuff.

03:44It's very rare now you hear a Sussex accent.

03:48Yeah. And it's lovely that you've been particularly generous to our glorious Festival of

03:52Chichester. A huge number of talks you're doing for us as part of... Well, effectively,

03:56it's your own Chris Hare series within the Festival, isn't it?

04:01Yeah, well, I'm really excited to do that. I did lots of talks in Chichester many years

04:06ago. I mean, we're talking 30 years ago. So it's nice to sort of come back to it and do

04:13it through the Festival.

04:15Absolutely. Well...

04:17Very much looking forward to it.

04:19It's brilliant to have you as part of the Festival. And so the list of talks is truly

04:23impressive. Well done you. Great to speak to you, Chris, and good luck with all of them.

04:29Thanks. Thank you, Phil. Thanks.

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