Welsh history is the new rock and roll

Gildas Griffiths

You could be forgiven for thinking that these photographs were taken at a theatre production of a Noel Coward play.

However, what you are looking at are photos of some bloke you’ve probably never heard of, giving a local history talk in the back room of a pub. On a freezing cold Tuesday evening in January.

Not what you’d expect is it?

The bloke you’ve probably never heard of, in this instance, is historian, author and broadcaster Graham Loveluck-Edwards and these photos were taken at one of his talks at the Duke of Wellington pub, Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan on 7 January 2025.

The subject was “Historic local pubs and all the madness that ensued therein”. One of a series of five talks he has given throughout early January.

Historic pub talks

This is a time of year when most people do not generally venture out. A time when many pubs in the area just give up and close their doors. Yet this event was attended by 89 paying punters. And what is more, this is not an isolated event.

Graham delivered his January historic pub talks at venues right the way across south Wales. From Cardiff to Porthcawl, and every single one of them was completely sold out. In some instances, weeks before the event.

Graham shared: “The idea of this tour was to buck the winter blues. January can be a pretty depressing time of year for everyone, and pubs really struggle to make ends meet.

“Everyone is either skint or on a health kick after Christmas, so part of the plan was to fill some local pubs on Monday or a Tuesday night in January, when otherwise they would have been dead.”

A noble cause, but you still have to wonder how he managed to pull it off? What is the big attraction? How does Graham pull in the crowds that he does to these events?

Facelift

History and folklore has had a facelift recently, with a wave of TV programmes with peak time viewing slots. Not hosted by university professors in tweed jackets as you might have seen in the past but instead presented by the likes of Sir Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Jonathan Ross and Charlie Cooper.

In fact, in 2024, Graham Loveluck-Edwards worked with Charlie Cooper on his hit BBC Three TV series “Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country”. So Graham is very much a part of this new, hip history movement.

I asked him why he thought history has suddenly become mainstream entertainment, and why people are coming out in their hundreds to hear him speak?

He shared: “You’ve got two distinct groups who are drawn to the sort of thing I do” he told me.

“Firstly, there is the over 50s crowd. It’s the strangest thing but even people who have never had the slightest interest in history, suddenly get bitten by the bug when they hit 50.”

“A more recent development however has been the massive growth of the under 30s audience. I think this is down to the avalanche of podcasters and influencers who create historically focussed content on social media.

“I suppose to an extent I am one of them. This seems to have stimulated thousands of youngsters to take an interest in history and folklore, and this in turn has seen them come to my shows”.

Bardic

What about the style and delivery of your history talks? How have you managed to make subjects like the Norman conquest and the Reformation fun and entertaining?

“I have always been extremely passionate about history, so I can’t help expressing that passion when I am talking about it” Graham began.

“I suppose I am also by nature a rather gregarious and flamboyant person, so I like to put on a good show. I always expect my audience to leave my talks having learned something.

“But more than anything else I want them to have a really good time. I can take the criticism that I am more of a bardic storyteller than a serious, academic, historian. But what I would find crushing is the criticism that I have been boring.”

So, what next for Graham Loveluck-Edwards?

“I ran a history ‘event’ last summer. It was a festival of immersive history called ‘The Glamorgan History Walks’ where instead of sitting at home reading about history you went on a series of walks which took you to places of historic interest, right the way across the ancient county of Glamorgan.

“You heard the stories of what happened at the places where they happened, and every walk ended with lunch at an excellent old pub. It was extremely popular and a great success.

“I was even presented with an award from Wales Tourism for it. So, I will be running another history walking festival from May to September in 2025. It’s all still very much in its planning stage but I hope to make the event bigger, better and more inclusive this year.

“I also hope to publish two new books later this year and will undoubtedly be doing talks around their release. I’ll also be doing a bit more telly in the summer. Funnily enough I was doing a spot of filming for local telly this morning.”

History waits for no man.

If you want to know more about Graham Loveluck-Edwards, his books, his talks and his walks visit www.grahamloveluckedwards.com or search for him on YouTube or Facebook.