Here at History Hit, we love exploring the historic sites managed by the National Trust. In this special film we participate in a major National Trust event, the annual Octavia Hill lecture, delivered by renowned classicist and broadcaster, Professor Mary Beard.

Dan Snow speaks with Mary about her experience touring trust properties, even including a stint as a room volunteer in Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, and how this helped her examine questions of authenticity and ownership of these amazing historic places.

In her lecture, Mary argues that trust houses should be exciting places where we can all confront not just the past, but also ourselves. She explores the Trust’s own history, as well as the history told at sites like Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire and Dyrham Park in Gloucestershire, to ask how we can learn from the past, and how we can bring it alive.

You can watch the first in the National Trust’s Octavia Hill Lecture series here: https://access.historyhit.com/videos/national-trust-reimagining-our-past

In it, Neil McGregor, renowned art historian and museum director, delves into two magnificent houses, Penrhyn Castle in North Wales and Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, to demonstrate how these places can play a critical role in helping everyone to engage with complex histories.

You can consider the questions Mary raised with further reading compiled by the National Trust here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/octavia-hill-lecture#further-reading

Made in association with Times Radio.