Neil Oliver's The History of the British Isles in 100 Places

I went to see Neil Oliver at his presentation of The History of the British Isles in 100 Places, and I throughly enjoyed it.

Neil Oliver was a funny man during his presentation, appearing from the opposite of the stage from where a stage light shone (asking "Is the coast clear?"), and while he giving the introduction, he showed a photo of a boy at Culloden Battlefield when there was trees on the site and said "That girl is me" (Neil Oliver always has long hair).

The talk started from the earliest known activity of people on the British Isles right up the present day (with a joke of Brexit).  It wasn't all about the biggest moments of history, some of them were about smaller moments in history.  One story was about two childhood friends who fought on the opposite of the English Civil War, one writing a letter that hinted how much they wanted to avoid fighting each other.  Instead of listing the 1940 Battle of Britain, Oliver listed the German occupation of the Channel Islands.  One sad story was the enslavement of Irish people from an entire town by pirates from the Barbary States.

Being from Northumberland, I felt happy that he listed Bamburgh Castle and Lindisfarne amount the 100 places.  At the book signing after the show (I bought my book during the interval), I said to him that he missed Vindolanda, a Roman fort south of Hadrian's Wall where wooden tablets with writing from Roman times were found preserved, giving a glimpse into Roman life on the frontier of its empire, and has become a national treasure, but Oliver and I smiled where he said that was so much to put in.  I forgive him, having an interest in history I can understand, there's so much in the British Isles, it mustn't have been easy choosing the 100 places.

I hope for more presentations like Neil Oliver's.  Who knows? He might come back to do another presentation.

I hope that you will come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.