Our keynote speaker for this year’s festival is Sir Robert Worcester, Chairman of the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Commemoration Committee and founder of MORI (Market & Opinion Research International).

Sir Robert will be our guest at the Guildhall Museum on Saturday, October 10 at 4pm, to speak about the Magna Carta, widely regarded as a potent symbol of the freedom of the individual. 2015 is the 800^th anniversary of its sealing at Runnymede and at that iconic place on June 15, the Queen will be invited to sign a reaffirmation of its principles as part of the year long celebrations.

The inspiration for our history themed day was of course this momentous occasion and we’re very pleased to partner the Guildhall Museum in supporting their programme of events to celebrate.

Sir Robert will introduce the official book “Magna Carta – The Foundation of Freedom 1215 – 2015”. Published to commemorate the sealing  of the Great Charter, this definitive illustrated history tells the Magna Carta story and its enduring legacy.

It’s produced under the editorship of Professor Nicholas Vincent, the foremost expert on the Magna Carta and curator of the forthcoming British Library’s Magna Carta exhibition. He is joined by leading experts to explain the Charter’s genesis and subsequent influence across the ages and indeed, across the globe.

Sir Robert is the Deputy Chairman of the Magna Carta Trust; and Vice President and former Chairman of the Pilgrims Society. He is a Past President of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR). In 2005 he was appointed by Her Majesty the Queen a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in recognition of the “outstanding services rendered to political, social and economic research and for contribution to government policy and programmes”.

Sir Robert is Emeritus Chancellor of the University of Kent. (As Chancellor of the University of Kent his graduation congregations for the Medway Campus were held in Rochester Cathedral.) He is Visiting Professor of Government at LSE and an Emeritus Governor of the LSE and is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Contemporary British History at King’s College London. He is also Honorary Professor at Kent and at Warwick. He holds a number of honorary degrees and fellowships and has authored, co-authored and edited more than a dozen books and many articles in professional journals and newspapers.

For lots of updates on the Magna Carta celebrations, you can follow Sir Robert on Twitter @RobertWorcester.