REVIEW BY BW.

The Max Keen lecture is always a highlight on the Festival calendar.

It was again sold out and the venue was filling up half an hour before the start.

The subject this year was Oliver Cromwell and Max entered in his Civil War costume complete with a magnificent sword.

From the outset Max, a passionate Royalist, declared his difficulty in assessing his feelings about Cromwell.

As the historical picture developed, the reasons were obvious. Cromwell had started off promoting the rights of the common man and had later gone a long way to suppressing them.

Max himself drew the contrasts between his presentation style and that of Neil Oliver the previous evening.

Whilst they both had a fund of humorous asides and a relaxed approach, Neil gave us the background to history while Max gave us the facts.

Indeed, we were rather overwhelmed with facts - dates, names, acts of parliament and much more.

The result was somewhat indigestible and, while it was an enjoyable two hours, it could have benefited from some judicious pruning.

Max had not yet decided on his subject for next year but I am sure his many loyal followers will be there for it.