Members: £20
Non-Members: £22
At the workshop you will:
- Hear about the Chris and Bessie letters (1943 – 1946), found in a small blue box kept under the stairs in their London semi for 60 years
- See and hear Benedict Cumberbatch (as Chris) and Louise Brealey (as Bessie) reading from the wartime love letters that became My Dear Bessie (2014)
- Reflect on war time and falling in love by letter
- Examine facsimile and typescript samples of the original letters; and see material from the Chris Barker archive held at Mass Observation, University of Sussex
- Discuss the implications for family history and archival research
- Ask questions on any aspect of the project.
Professor Emeritus Bernard Barker, is the elder son of Chris and Bessie, conceived on their home-leave honeymoon and born on 11th August 1946. His birth marked the closure of his parents’ wartime correspondence. Raised in South London, Bernard, like his brother Peter, born in 1949, was educated at a London comprehensive and studied history at Cambridge. After a teaching career and the headship of two community comprehensives, he embarked on an academic career and has published widely on schools, education and social mobility.
