Join English Heritage for a festival lunch and a talk by its chief executive, Dr Simon Thurley. The cost of this event includes a main fish course, dessert, wine and coffee or tea. Please email info@blenheimpalaceliteraryfestival.com if you would like the vegetarian option.

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin said heritage was the rock out of which the nation’s children would be hewn. His statement characterised an extraordinary period between 1900 and 1950 when the state amassed more than 800 historic buildings, monuments and historic sites and opened them to the public. Thurley, a former curator of Historic Royal Palaces, takes a personal look at this momentous period for the UK’s heritage which saw the activities of the state mirrored by the setting up of dozens of voluntary bodies, including the Council for the Protection of Rural England, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and the National Trust.

Thurley sets the endeavour in its political, economic and cultural context, painting a picture of a country traumatised by war and fearful of losing what was left of its history.