RHS Colin Matthews Memorial Lecture

In the past, history was presented to us as a settled story: a pile of dates to memorise, a handful of “great men” to admire, a heritage of statues and plaques to defend from “erasure”. In the 21st century, this focus has come under greater scrutiny, as wider and more nuanced studies of the past look beyond the limits of male experience. In this lecture for the Royal Historical Society, Sathnam Sanghera takes this further, drawing on his work on the British Empire and his experience of writing history for a broad public. He explores what history is not: not fixed, not a balance sheet of “good” and “bad”, and definitely not the same thing as national heritage, nostalgic pride or self-lacerating shame. Tickets on sale Oct 3, 2026.